Constant
by yoosij
Summary: Teddy and Victoire have been best friends for as long as they could remember, but they have fancied each other for a couple of years. This story charts the constant relationship of Teddy and Victoire that suddenly is ever-changing.
1. Teddy's Prologue

**Disclaimer:** JK Rowling owns all of these characters and their world, I'm merely playing with them! She owns the rights, and I'm not getting any money from this.

Teddy groggily opened his eyes and looked around the room confused. Why did he fall asleep against his headboard? It was so uncomfortable. And why did he feel a huge weight on his chest…

He tried not to groan when he realized the weight was Victoire asleep on his chest. He had been studying for his NEWTs and she had been studying for her OWLs in the Heads' common room when Chelsea, the Head Girl from Ravenclaw, came in with some friends, not looking entirely thrilled that the common room was being used for a study session. Teddy tried to abate any tension by offering that they would just go study up in his room. One of Chelsea's friends giggled, Chelsea raised an eyebrow, and Victoire looked even more put out as she glared back at Chelsea.

The problem was that Chelsea, as well as half of the girls in the school if Teddy was guessing right, had a crush on Victoire's most recent ex, Colin Matthews. He was attractive, brilliant, and the Seeker for Ravenclaw. Ever since first year he had been Teddy's biggest competitor. He also happened to be an "egotistical pig," as Victoire kindly referred to him now. Teddy's pet names and adjectives for him weren't as clean or nice. So, Chelsea, who already wasn't fond of the girl who was two years younger in her same house that managed to snag and dump Colin Matthews, was even more unhappy that she had to see her on a regular basis because of her friendship with Teddy. Victoire had told Teddy that she thought Chelsea might have even fancied Teddy at one time, if not still, and was stupidly jealous of Victoire for that as well. Teddy didn't agree with her there, but there was definitely an animosity between the two. Chelsea would usually poke at Victoire enough until she finally took the bait and stood up for herself, which usually turned into both of them being in sorry moods for the rest of the night.

To save himself from having to hear either of them bitch for the next hour, he conceded the common room first and helped Victoire with her stuff as well as grabbing his own and headed up to his room.

"We were there _first,_" Victoire whispered as Teddy nodded and began walking ahead of her on the stairs "And if she's just going to gossip it would be easier for her to go to her room than us having to move all of our stuff and spread it on the floor because your desk isn't as big as the table down-" She stopped both talking and moving, and that gave Teddy a bad feeling. He turned around and opened his mouth to ask what was going on when he heard Chelsea and her friends muttering downstairs.

"… never understood it. I mean she's pretty but she's just a _fifth year_. I mean, really?" said a voice that Teddy thought probably belonged to Elizabeth, a seventh year Ravenclaw.

"Well, I heard that she used her Veelan powers and bewitched him, the tart," said Margaret, a seventh year Slytherin.

Teddy couldn't see Victoire's facial expression, but he knew it would not be good. She hated when people brought up her Veelan heritage. By the time it got to Victoire it wasn't very strong at all. The only characteristics she really got from it were her looks, her singing voice, and some things she had told him were "innate." She told him she couldn't turn on the charm like her mother could, and he believed her. Sure, she could be flirtatious, but he had never seen her do anything that any other really pretty girl could do with flirting.

"Please, Ted told me she doesn't really even have Veelan powers. She didn't bewitch him," Chelsea said. Teddy was surprised Chelsea was somewhat sticking up for Victoire. Of course, then Chelsea had to continue talking. "Colin told me the other day he just dated her because he thought she was going to be easy. Said she was an 'Ice Princess,' though." There was giggling, and Teddy began walking back down to the common room. "Can't really blame him for thinking that, the way she acts with guys. She's just all talk I guess…"

Teddy passed Victoire then. He wasn't much for confrontation, but right now he wanted nothing more than to hex Chelsea's mouth shut.

"Teddy," Victoire whispered, grabbing his arm. He stopped and turned. One of those "innate" things about being a Veela was coming out right now. Her normally light blue eyes were practically black and much smaller. When she was even angrier they would become bead-like. The look on her face was a mixture of both anger and hurt. She shook her head and whispered, "It's not worth it, come on."

He nodded and followed her up the stairs. She went about opening up her materials and spreading it on the floor. He leaned against the doorway and watched her. Her eyes were normal size now and more of a navy color, and lightening still. Soon it would match the Ravenclaw t-shirt she was wearing.

He smiled as he thought about when she entered the Heads' common room earlier that night. "You're not…. You seriously still wear his stuff?" Teddy asked, trying to mask the disgust on his face.

Victoire looked confused and looked down at her shirt. It was a Ravenclaw Quidditch t-shirt and was far too big for her petite frame. She shook her head and laughed a little. "Oh ye of little faith. This is Sarah's. None of my t-shirts were clean so I nicked it," she said as she walked over to the table where they would usually study.

Teddy was still skeptical and asked, "It looks a little big for Sarah…"

She had looked over her shoulder and smiled that smile that could win him over almost every time, and said, "It's Sarah's, I promise. She's taller than me and she likes her shirts bigger, I dunno. Trust me, I've been over that egotistical pig since the day after the ball. Merlin, you're acting like you're jealous or something."

That had been the end of it, and now she was sitting on his floor, trying to figure out what place she had been on in her notes. She was in an oversized t-shirt and jeans and she still looked gorgeous to him. He shook his head and went to join her, mentally scolding himself for thinking about her in that way yet again.

Eventually he noticed that she was getting uncomfortable sitting on the floor and she suggested spreading the study materials across his bed instead. He _hated_ when she suggested that. The thought of her on his bed would distract him with inappropriate thoughts when he should try to study. However, her shifting how she was sitting every minute was distracting as well, so he always relented.

And that must have been how they got in this state. He didn't know who dozed off first, but he noticed it was almost three in the morning. He tried not to move in case she woke up and noticed he was awake and watching her. He couldn't really help it, though. Her blonde hair, with just the faintest hint of strawberry, was everywhere it seemed. Her head was resting just under his shoulder, and right hand was resting on his chest. Her right leg was dangerously close to laying over his leg. He thought about how good it felt to have her laying on him like that, how she seemed to fit perfectly. It made him think of when he first realized he fancied her.

It was last summer, and he was going into his last year. He had seen her a few times over the summer, but it was mostly toward the beginning. They had kept up writing for once and she had spent her entire summer either in France or on the beach at home. Mrs. Weasley was having a back to school party, like she did every year. Teddy was laughing and talking to Harry when he saw Victoire walk up. Her hair seemed even lighter and longer, if it was possible. It had that little bit of curl to it. Her skin was sun-kissed from spending all of her days at the ocean, and her eyes matched the color of the ocean water. She had freckles on her nose and just barely on her cheeks. She was wearing a light blue cottony dress thing that looked perfect on her.

"Uncle Harry!" she said gleefully as she hugged him around the neck and he picked her up.

"Wow. You've gotten older. I can't believe it. You're going into your what… fifth year right? And Teddy's about to graduate. You two are making me old," Harry said, shaking his head.

Victoire smiled and Teddy tried to remember if her smile had always looked that way or if there's something different about it this time. "Oh, don't worry. Maman says that men just get more distinguished with age," she said as her smile turned into a bit of a smirk.

Harry laughed and said, "Well, your mother's nice to say that. I'm not so sure."

Victoire then turned to Teddy and gave him a hug. "I can't believe this is your last year! It's not fair." Everything seemed to go right back to normal after that. Except that every once in a while he caught himself glancing at her, and a few times when he was around her he smelled this really familiar smell. Later on in the year when she was telling him all about her Potions class and about how Professor Nicks told her they could learn how to brew Amortentia and she thought it would be so funny to see what hers smelled like, he realized what that smell had been. In his sixth year his potion had smelled like chocolate, parchment, and something that smelled like a mixture of the ocean and some sort of flower. As she lay on his chest now he could faintly smell that flowery ocean smell.

He guessed it was before that moment at the back to school party that he began fancying her then. Maybe it was some time during his sixth year, then. It could have been when she showed up to school in her fourth year, looking like she had just walked out of a magazine as she walked down the halls with her two best friends, dressed in a similar style. Her hair had been perfect with its curls and this headband thing in it and she was wearing knee-high socks with these shiny heels. She looked so much older than he had remembered, and Chris, Teddy's best mate, had commented on how good she looked when she walked by them. Teddy for a moment wondered if she was a different person all together. Was she going to suddenly be stuck up and only care about being popular? But as she walked by she waved and said hi to him as she had always done when they saw each other in the corridors. After dinner he realized she had the same sense of humor, and even though she still looked like a fashionista in the Quidditch stands, at least she wasn't wearing those heels and she was still jumping up and down and cheering at games.

He wasn't quite sure when it was that he began fancying her, but he knew he was now in a lot of trouble for it. She was gorgeous and everyone knew it. She was smart, too. And even though she had absolutely no hand-eye coordination and therefore was a shotty Quidditch player whenever the kids would make her play at the Burrow, she was still a fan. She was really artistic instead, and sometimes he wondered if her clothes were one of her ways of showing it, the way she looked perfectly put together and on top of every trend… yet somehow just a little ahead as if she was the one starting them. She wasn't perfect, of course. She had that horrible Weasley temper, and he thought she had the worst tastes in guys imaginable. That's why they probably would never date. He wasn't like the popular jocks she usually dated. Sure, he was Seeker for Gryffindor, but he wasn't as tall and muscular and well… good looking as the others. He wasn't as flirtatious and he didn't dress like them. She could probably have any guy she wanted, and he guessed that he was not on that list. The laidback, 'cool' in a nonconformist kind of way was fun for a best friend… but he didn't think she wanted that in a boyfriend.

There were a few times when he thought she was interested. It was the way she looked at him, the way she was not very fond of his girlfriends, how she sometimes blushed. Just after the Yule Ball this year they almost kissed even. At least, he thought they did. He was mere centimeters from her lips and she was smiling this gorgeous smile. She had just caught her boyfriend cheating on her and broken up with him in front of everyone, and yet she was smiling this perfect smile for him. Of course, they were interrupted.

Before tonight, the last time he had the suspicion that maybe she felt the same way was the last Quidditch game of the year. She had been acting strange all semester after the ball. She probably realized they had almost kissed and couldn't stand being around him since it would have been just a rebound kiss. But there she was, waiting for him outside the locker room before the game.

"Victoire what are you…?" he asked before she jumped up and gave him a big hug.

"Kick his arse for me, Lupin. Everyone knows you're a better seeker, anyway," she whispered before letting him go.

Teddy knew he probably had a bit of a goofy grin on his face. He tried to knock it off quick. He nodded to her statement and asked, "Where have you been, Weasley?"

She shrugged and looked down at her feet, "OWLs, I suppose. Prefect duties. Friends in my year that I neglected when I was with Colin. You?"

"NEWTs and Quidditch, I guess," he said. He paused and nudged her shoulder with his Firebolt Blaze. "I miss you, Tor. You should stop hiding out it Ravenclaw Tower."

She furrowed her brow at him. It was really cute, actually. "I wasn't hiding out…" She looked down at her feet and then back up at him. "I suppose I miss you as well, Theodore."

He smiled and said, "Well I'm about to go off in the real world so we better hang out while we can. We can do that and study. Besides, the Heads' common room is even quieter than Ravenclaw Tower or the library."

She smiled at him and said, "All right, sounds good." And then she did the unimaginable. She put one of her hands on his cheek and then kissed the other cheek. "Good luck. And I mean it, kick his arse, even if it's my own house," she said with a smirk before turning to the stands. She didn't even turn back to look at him, and he was glad for it because if he had a goofy grin on his face earlier, it had to be goofier now. She told him he was a better seeker than Colin, told him that she missed him, and kissed his cheek. For some reason he could still feel the exact places her hand and lips had been even though it was pretty ridiculous to think he could. It just seemed to tingle there. That happened often though. Every time she touched his hand, cheek or even his arm he could still feel it minutes later. He walked into the locker room with a big grin on his face as he touched his cheek. Needless to say, Gryffindor won 280-110 to clench the Quidditch Cup.

In real time, Victoire began to move and he quickly closed his eyes in case she was waking up. He hoped she wasn't, though. He hoped they could stay this way longer.


	2. Victoire's Prologue

Victoire's eyes fluttered open. She had no idea where she was at first. But then she glanced down and noticed her head was resting on a chest. A very Ted-like chest. _Oh God… Oh God…_ she frantically thought before looking up and seeing Teddy sound asleep. She was relieved. He would probably get all nervous and freaked if he found them sleeping like this, or worse, not think a thing about it. She sighed and stretched her arm a little. She thought they fit absolutely perfect this way, and it just made her a little sadder. She closed her eyes and fisted his shirt a little bit, willing herself to jut go back to sleep and freeze this moment.

She had fancied Teddy since her fourth year, maybe even her third. Hell, for all she knew it could have been when she was five. She consciously began noticing how attracted she was to him in her fourth year, though. Usually it was just his hair that he would keep changing, but his face would more or less stay the same unless he was playing a joke. There were two types of hairstyles she liked the most, though. Her favorites were when he would do the turquoise spikes, because her favorite color was blue, and when he would leave it the way it would naturally be, a little shaggy and light brown. Her realization that she had favorite styles due to her thinking they looked attractive hit her hard, and she was smitten ever since.

He was completely out of her league though. He was the Gryffindor seeker, and all those years with Uncle Harry definitely helped him become one of the bests, if not the best current seeker at Hogwarts. He was also just so… cool. Nothing really phased him, except when he would get all big brother on her whenever she dated a guy he didn't approve of… which was basically all of them. He liked jazz and rock. He had vintage Weird Sisters shirts. He could change how he looked at will and yet she still thought he was cutest just as himself. He was one of the nicest guys she knew, and yet he had the same sarcastic sense of humor as her. He was also two years older and completely "fanciable," as she called it, to most girls and he was still completely oblivious to it. It made him even more adorable to her. She had seen the way he was with girlfriends and she wanted a boyfriend like him badly. Actually, she wanted _him_ as her boyfriend badly.

She absolutely hated fancying her best friend. It made it really hard when they would hang out sometimes. She would try very hard not to be awkward. It also made it hard when he had a girlfriend or she had a boyfriend. She hoped dating would allow her to move on because she did genuinely like the guys she dated, but to no avail. She absolutely hated it when he had a girlfriend, and she couldn't stand Chelsea because Chelsea _wanted_ to be his next girlfriend. Well, either his or Colin's, and she didn't like the idea of either.

Victoire actually thought something might happen after her and Colin broke up. She remembered being so excited for that stupid ball. Her and Colin had been together for almost four months and she had worked extra hard to look absolutely amazing and grown up. She had always thought Teddy would never want to date her because she was younger and saw her as a little sister, yet she was dating a seventh year! The seventh year, devastatingly handsome and witty Ravenclaw seeker. Colin had commented on how pretty she looked all night, and even tried to pull them off to be alone a few times. Victoire had fought off all the advances. Even though she had gone further with Colin than any other guy, she didn't think she wanted to go as far as he apparently wanted to that night. Besides people would notice if they mysteriously left and came back, and that is just embarrassing.

Colin had kissed her hand and walked off to go to the loo and then get something for them to drink when Teddy walked up to her. He had taken Chelsea, who had started being a complete bitch after Victoire started dating Colin. But he had just broken it off with April, so she forgave him… just a little.

"Where's your date?" she coolly asked with a cocked brow. The last time she and Teddy talked, they were screaming and not talking. She still thought he was the one in the wrong.

"Going to the loo with a bunch of the girls. I don't understand why you girls have to go in packs to the loo. Old Voldy's not hiding in the stall," he said jokingly, but Victoire's expression stayed the exact same. He was going to have to work a little harder than that. He glanced around the room and finally asked, "Where's your date?"

She shrugged and said, "He's doing the same, except he's going by himself and bringing back drinks."

"Good," Teddy said, offering her his arm as a peace offering, "How about that dance I promised you, then?"

She rolled her eyes and said, "I guess you did promise." She had spent the last week properly teaching him how to dance, and as a reward he promised to get her a pack of sugar quills and answer almost any questions when she needed to study for her OWLs. Of course, that week had started off going really well with them joking around and her guiltily relishing in getting to be so close to him, and ended with one of their biggest arguments.

"I don't understand why you hate him so much! He's been the perfect gentleman and _he's_ said really nice things about_ you_. Why can't you just stop acting like you're four and DO THE SAME?" Victoire fumed as she began collecting her schoolbag and rearranging the classroom back to its natural state.

"Because he's the world's biggest prat, Tor. How do you NOT see that? Sure he's all sweet to the girls you hang out with and to people when all of you are around but it's _just_ because he wants to get in your _knickers_," he bellowed back.

Victoire turned back to him and knew that her eyes were probably darkening now. He knew how touchy of a subject that was! Teddy himself had even stopped a guy who was trying to take advantage of her in a corridor once. How DARE he say Colin was the same way when he had been completely respectful to her thus far?

"He's _not_ like those other guys, Ted. He respects me and listens to me and understands. For once it's not just my looks, you know? And I would think you would be HAPPY about that and happy for me since we're supposed to be _best friends_ instead of you acting like some sort of over protective older brother or jealous boyfriend!" she yelled. She hadn't meant to say the last bit about him acting like a jealous boyfriend, but it was true. It just made him even madder.

"I'm not either of those! Fine. FINE. You want me to give my honest opinion, more than that he's just a prat?" Teddy said as Victoire crossed her arms, challenging him. "Ok. He's a git. One of the biggest gits I've ever met. Come on, I play against him in Quidditch and I've seen him in class the past seven years. I KNOW." Victoire almost interrupted to say that he was supposed to say more than that he thought Colin was a prat or git, but Teddy continued. "I've heard how he talks about girls behind their back and it's kinda sick. And I swear if I ever him say any of it about you he'll be in the hospital wing. And he's just… he's not right for you ok? He's one of those guys that I'm sure orders for you even though you're one of the most independent people I know and anyone who actually _knows _you should know that. He doesn't like Muggle Rock and he's made it clear in class that he doesn't care about going anywhere outside of Britain and you love traveling. And he probably has never even thought to ask what your favorite flower is or figure out that you prefer sugar quills and ice mice to chocolate frogs or licorice. He's just… not good for you. You could do better."

Victoire looked at him confused. She _did_ want the type of guy that would know all that, and he was standing right in front of her. Problem was, that guy didn't want her. She shook her head and said, "Teddy, this is just Hogwarts. It's not forever." She walked out of the classroom and they hadn't talked since. Well, he had a few times, she hadn't.

He was the one to apologize first at the ball. "Tor… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone off on you about that arse, Colin." She cocked her eyebrow and he shrugged. "But I've been watching and he seems to be treating you really well tonight… I guess."

She smiled and said, "It's okay. You're just looking out for me… and he is sort of your rival. However, I think you might be the better dancer. Wherever did you learn these moves?" She giggled as he spun her.

"Oh, you wouldn't like her very much," he said with a smirk. She giggled and continued dancing as their partners stayed absent. She found herself soon dancing very close to him, and she couldn't help but rest her head on his shoulder. It was a faster song, but she didn't care and he seemed to be fine dancing this slowly. She closed her eyes and smiled contently. Why couldn't this be how it always was? She felt guilty again because she was with Colin, and she liked him very much. He had this way of making her melt. She giggled a little and opened her eyes to see her date. However, the sight made her stop dancing.

"Tor, what's wrong?" Teddy asked as she started walking towards the back of the room by some curtains. Teddy was following her, but Victoire wasn't paying attention.

"What are you doing?" she yelled as she approached him. His hand was on a girl's leg, pulling her skirt up a little, while the other was on her chest. His mouth was very much on her mouth.

Colin pulled away and smirked. "What? I told you I thought we should have some private time. So I decided to have some private time of my own. Relax, it doesn't mean anything…" The brunette looked over and smirked. Victoire recognized her as a seventh year Gryffindor named Samantha.

Victoire glared and could tell her eyes were getting darker. "This is in public you daft git!" she yelled before slapping him.

He put a hand on his cheek, looking shocked, and yelled, "Well maybe if you weren't such a tease!" he yelled back. People definitely were hearing this fight and she really didn't want it to be any more of a scene. She turned just as she saw Teddy had caught up with her. She walked up to Colin and whispered, "Well maybe if you thought with the proper head," before promptly kneeing him in the groin. "That should help," she said in her normal voice before stalking off. Teddy had stared down at Colin for a few moments, and she guessed later on that he thought it wasn't worth it, because by the time she made it outside and sat down in the courtyard, Teddy was right behind her.

"Victoire?" he said cautiously as he walked outside.

It hurt. It really did. She though Colin understood. She thought for once she found someone who didn't see her as a piece of ass. As much as she loved Teddy, she didn't want to hear a lecture about how he was right. She sighed and didn't even turn to look at him. "Just say it. Just say 'I told you so' and leave me alone," she said quietly.

Teddy stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked over to her and sat down beside her. "I'm not going to say that, Tor, and you know it," he said, not looking at her either.

She nodded. He was right. He was too good. Too good for her, even. "You were right," she said, still in a quiet voice. She wasn't crying, not even sniffing. But the hurt could be heard in her voice. "He always ordered for me at the Three Broomsticks. And he gave me licorice. Remember when all the Ravenclaw boys in my Herbology class gave me red roses? Red. It was just a show."

Teddy put his arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder. "Not hybrids," he said, which was enough to show he knew what she meant. Her favorite flowers were hybrid flowers, especially roses that's petals were different colors than the tips.

She pouted and said, "He really was a wanker. It was… just an act." He looked down at her and laughed at her pouty expression. Her eyes were clear and light blue again. He looked a bit relieved. He was probably just glad she wasn't crying all over him.

After sitting there for a moment, taking in his scent and loving being so close, she finally spoke up. "You should go inside, you're being a bad date. Even if it's to Chelsea," she said with a smirk.

He smiled, turned to her, laughed, and said, "There's my girl. And I'm sure she's being entertained. I can't leave you to wallow over some git who didn't deserve you, can I?"

She suddenly noticed how close they really were. Just a few inches and she could kiss him. It was so tempting. "Well, thank you. Really. You're the best friend a girl could have," she said. She boldly put her hand on his cheek and leaned a little closer. She could see every gold speck in his eyes and every eyelash. "I don't know what I'd do without you, really," she said, before smiling. "You're my constant." He smiled and she thought he would kiss her. He would _actually _kiss her. They were so close…

But of course, it would have to be ruined. Chelsea walked out and said in her annoying voice, "Excuse me?" Teddy jumped immediately, as if he got caught doing something he wasn't supposed to. Victoire turned away and blushed madly. He actually _jumped_ away from her, as if he had just touched a hot surface and gotten burned.

"Hey, sorry. Look…" he said as he walked over to her and began whispering. Victoire didn't even try to listen. She stared out at the grounds and just imagined that he was telling her what happened with Colin.

Her guess was confirmed when Chelsea said, "Oh really? That's too bad. I mean, how mortifying…" and from there it trailed off because she was pulling Teddy inside.

"Let me just see if she's ok," she heard him say, and _now_ Victoire was on the verge of tears.

"I'm fine," she shouted without looking at them. She just couldn't stand the sight of Chelsea with him.

"Are you-" but Victoire interrupted. "Promise. Go have fun."

Victoire had been completely embarrassed by the whole ordeal. She thought he might have had feelings for her, and then he jumped away. Luckily he started getting really busy with Quidditch and NEWTs, and OWLs was becoming unbearable for her. She could just hide away in Ravenclaw Tower and focus on her schoolwork to distract from it all. They hadn't even gotten back to hanging out again until the last Quidditch match of the semester. She had come to support him (she really wanted to see Colin lose, even if it was her own house) and Teddy had told her he missed her. OWLs and NEWTs awaited them, though. So, they decided to hang out by studying together.

And that is how they got in the situation they currently were in. Victoire kept her eyes closed and felt his chest rise and fall. She wished things were different, but she couldn't help but feel perfectly content. It even allowed her to drift back to sleep.


	3. Another 'Almost'

Another 'Almost'

Teddy woke again at around five in the morning. Victoire was still sleeping on his chest, her hand fisting his shirt, and her right leg now completely resting over his legs. He smiled and brushed some of the hair out of her face. She had to get up though. It would be bad for her to have slept there all night.

"Hey…" he whispered, wrapping his arm around her and nudging at her shoulder. "Tor… Torie, come on. Wake up."

Her eyes fluttered open. She made everything look pretty, he thought, even waking up. She stretched and then looked down at the placement of her body, and then looked up to see him awake.

She nervously laughed and said, "Oops…" before sitting up. She stretched again and began running her fingers through her long hair.

He wanted nothing more than to run _his _fingers through her hair. He shook his head at the thought and said, "Looks like we dozed off."

She yawned and looked at the books and notes strewn across the bed. "Mmm… what time is it?"

Teddy looked at his watch and reluctantly said, "It's 5:11. You should probably head out. Chelsea would have a field day if she saw you walk out of here and your roommates will probably do the same if they wake up and you're not back."

Victoire groaned and flopped back onto his bed. "Mmm… but I'm too tired to go all the way back."

Teddy laughed. She was always impossible to wake up. She was one of the most punctual people he knew, but it took ages for her to get up and get going after sleeping, even when they napped as kids. "Come on Baby Torie," he said as he began sorting and picking up her things.

Victoire sat up and watched him for a moment. She couldn't tell if he was being helpful or just wanted her out of there. There was a sinking feeling in her stomach, and she must have had an unhappy look on her face because he looked concerned.

"Something wrong?" he asked as he tried to figure out if a particular piece of paper was his or hers.

She shook her head and began collecting her things. He handed her a stack of notes and she smiled. They were so close to each other again. It was almost like the ball…

She leaned and said a little quieter than she meant to, "Why do you take such good care of me, huh?"

He stared at her blankly for a moment. _Because I'm head over arse crazy about you?_ She was so close… he should just kiss her. _Kiss her now, Lupin._ "Be-because we're best friends. That's what best friends do. Besides, if I don't who will?" he said with a cheeky grin.

She nodded and said with a smile, _that smile_, "Well that makes sense." She then backed off the bed and finished collecting her things and putting them in her bookbag.

_Good going there, Lupin, _he thought as she started heading for the door. He barely registered her goodbye because he noticed she was blushing. Why was she…

"Victoire," he said, jumping up off the bed and scrambling over to her. She giggled at his behavior but he didn't care. He leaned in the door way as she stood on the top step. "So, um, another study session tonight then?"

The look on her face changed. She looked almost… shy. In reality, butterflies were going crazy in her stomach. "Yeah, sounds good. I probably get more studying done here, anyway."

He smiled and she thought the butterflies might rise up to her throat if he kept this up. "Okay, well. See you tonight." She smiled his favorite smile again and walked down and out of sight. Fast forward five hours later, and Victoire was getting a pillow to the face.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I wake you?" Ashleigh said in her sickenly sweet voice with a smile to match. Victoire groaned and sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. It had taken her forever to fall back asleep because she kept replaying the night, and only getting a few more hours of sleep was not enough. "Because I do believe that we had plans to meet for breakfast at ten o'clock outside your portrait hole and," Ashleigh continued as she glanced at her watch, "It's 10:26 and _neither_ of you were up! Some bloody first year had to let us in."

Victoire was still in a half-woken state when she looked up at Ashleigh, confused. "You got someone to let you in without an escort? That is completely against the rules…"

Emma giggled and sat at the end of Victoire's bed. "Well, all she had to do was look at the poor dear and she scared him enough to leave him stammering and letting us in."

Ashleigh crossed her arms and shrugged, "What? I can't help if he's scared of a cocked eyebrow. He was just a twitchy little first year."

Victoire sighed and fell back against her pillow. "So why aren't you chewing her out?" she asked, nodding her head towards Natalie, who was pulling on argyle knee-highs in the bed next to her.

"Because you always get up earlier and always get me up. _Always_. I don't even set an alarm. Besides, you slept through them getting on to me. Where were you last night? I went to bed at four and you weren't back yet," Natalie asked as she looked under her bed for the exact pair of shoes she wanted to wear.

Ashleigh smirked and sat down next to Emma. "Oh? Was our little Victoire out late?"

Victoire blushed and took the opportunity to get out of bed. "I just went to study at Teddy's. We accidentally fell asleep. I guess I got back around five-thirty." As Victoire rummaged through her wardrobe she noticed the look on Ashleigh's face. She rolled her eyes and pulled out a dress as she continued, "It's not a big deal. Nothing happened."

"Oh, but you _wanted_ something to happen, didn't you?" Ashleigh asked as Victoire changed into the dress. Victoire could hear Emma giggle at that as she slipped the dress over her head.

"I don't know even know anymore. I mean…" she said as she sighed and grabbed a hairbrush. "We had to go study in his room because Hell-sea came in and we studied on his bed because the floor was so bloody uncomfortable and… we fell asleep. I woke up and I had been lying on top of him and… it was nice. More than nice, really." Victoire noticed the smirk returned to Ashleigh's face and so she continued to brush her hair and added, "But he is so confusing. We were so close… he could have just kissed me… but then he shooed me off the bed and tried to get me out as fast as possible. And _then_ he did this thing where he leaned against his door and asked me to come study again tonight… like he enjoyed it. Like…."

"Like?" Ashleigh asked.

"I don't know," Victoire said as she slipped on some heels.

Ashleigh sighed and said, "You two are starting to really annoy me. _Obviously_ you fancy each other and neither one of you will do a thing about it."

"I don't make the first move," Victoire said firmly as she placed a headband in her hair.

"Well, I guess there will be no moves, then," Emma said as she hopped off the bed.

"You guys are a lot of help, thanks," Victoire said in a deadpan voice.

Ashleigh smiled and took Victoire's arm as they walked down the stairs. "He doesn't know what he's missing. He'll say something some day. You're meant to be, he'll see. Blah blah blah." She then patted Victoire's arm and said, "Don't worry, I'm sure we can find _someone_ who thinks you're pretty." She smirked as she said it because a few sixth year boys in the common room watched them as they walked by.

The four girls walked together down the hall, now laughing and talking. Emma was a bubbly fifth year Gryffindor with a blonde bob and big brown eyes. Natalie was a fifth year Ravenclaw, and a tall redhead with wavy hair and blue eyes. When Victoire first came to school the teachers had guessed that Natalie was the first Weasley grandchild because of her hair and freckles.

Ashleigh was Victoire's best friend though. She was a fifth year Slytherin with long brown hair, piercing green eyes, and porcelain skin. She had a glare that could kill and a sharp tongue, but she usually only reserved the two for people who wronged her or her friends. Victoire liked her because she was blunt and opinionated but beneath that stony appearance she had a really good heart. The two were first enemies. They competed in everything. They were arguably the two prettiest and smartest girls in their year. They fancied the same boys and competed for attention. Victoire couldn't even remember who offered the olive branch first, but they became friends halfway through their third year, and best friends soon after. They still compete for top marks, and both ended up making prefect, but they called a truce on boys. When owls mysteriously chased after Colin in the Great Hall the Monday after the ball, it was Ashleigh who had set the hex. She didn't ever get caught, of course. It was also Ashleigh who first pointed out that she thought Victoire had a thing for Teddy, and that he had a thing for her. However, Ashleigh had always supported her in dating other guys. Victoire had a suspicion that it was part of some plan to make Teddy jealous, but it didn't ever work. Ashleigh had managed to set up all of her friends at some point or another, and yet she hadn't managed to get her plans to work on the two of them yet.

There were usually five of them. The fifth was Charlotte, a fifth year Hufflepuff with long curly black hair and blue eyes, who currently had a boyfriend and now usually ate her breakfasts with him so that she could catch up with them at lunch and dinner. They were fashionable and pretty but not as obnoxious or pretentious as some of the other girls who carried themselves like Victoire and her friends. If any of them were generally described as stuck up, it was Ashleigh and maybe even Natalie, and Ashleigh wasn't even as bad as some of the other girls in her house and year. Teddy still had reservations about Ashleigh, but he had seen how much she was there for Victoire, so he kept his thoughts to himself. After all, they were Ash, Tor, Nat, Em, and Char, and nothing could break them apart.

"Hello ladies," Isaac Johnson said as he stepped between Victoire and Ashleigh and rested his arms on their shoulders. "Ready for your OWLs?"

Ashleigh shrugged him off and said, "I'm not an arm rest, Isaac."

He laughed and quickly removed his arm from around Victoire's shoulder as well. Emma jumped in and said with a warning look to Ashleigh, "I feel good about it, but I'm glad we still have two more days."

Ashleigh shrugged at Emma and then smiled at Isaac when he looked back at her. "Well, we should study together, or something. Get one of the big tables at the library… I know some more guys who would want to have a study party," he said, looking to Victoire.

Natalie smiled and said, "Do you? I think I'm in."

"A study party could be quite… productive," Ashleigh said in agreement.

"Tor?" Isaac asked, with what looked like hope.

Victoire looked over at Teddy, who was at Gryffindor table already and had just glanced at her. He gave her a little wave that made her heart flutter. "Oh… sorry. I already have plans to study with someone else," Victoire said, and it looked like there was disappointment in Isaac's eyes. "But… we have Sunday night, too. I'm sure I could study then, too. I'll catch up with all of you or just join Sunday."

Isaac smiled and nodded. "All right, sounds good. I'll hold you to that then, Tor." He then stuffed his hands in his pockets, nodded to the other girls, and joined his friends at the Ravenclaw table.

Ashleigh crossed her arms and said, "Merlin if he was any more obvious he would be snogging Victoire."

Emma giggled as they walked further into the Great Hall. "Too bad he didn't fancy you when you fancied him, huh Victoire?" _Yeah, in _third _year,_ Victoire thought.

"So, where are we going to sit today?" Natalie asked.

Ashleigh caught Victoire glancing at Teddy, who was also glancing at her, and smirked. "I think we haven't sat at Gryffindor table in a while…" she said as she led them over there. Victoire mentally scolded herself for letting Ashleigh catch her. She wondered what Ashleigh was cooking up right now.

Ashleigh waved to Teddy as they walked by and he said "Hi girls" in response.

"Hi Teddy… Chris… Sam," Ashleigh stopped and said in that same almost overly sweet voice.

Emma raised an eyebrow and stopped as well. "How are you guys?"

Sam nodded as he ate and Chris leaned on his elbows and smirked. "Good. How are you?"

Victoire was squirming during all of this, trying to look everywhere but Teddy. She couldn't help glancing at him though, especially because he seemed to be staring at her.

"Great, actually. Ted? How about you?" Ashleigh said, still smiling.

That broke Teddy out of his daze. He had been glancing at Victoire ever since she walked in. He watched as she talked to Isaac…. something. He was some Ravenclaw boy in her year. He watched as she walked down the row looking as if she hadn't had an interrupted night of sleep. She looked bloody amazing, if he were honest.

"Oh um, good. You all?" he said. The girls responded with their various "goods" and "fines" and Victoire said "very well." She wanted to change her answer as soon as she said it, and she could just _feel_ Ashleigh smirking at her.

Teddy smiled and looked at Victoire and said, "Yeah?"

Victoire smiled, blushed, and looked down. "Yeah."

"I know! You wouldn't believe it, would you, after she got such little sleep last night. But doesn't she just look amazing?" Ashleigh said, and in that moment Victoire wanted to kill her.

Teddy just continued to stare straight at her with a smile and said, "Yeah. Yeah, she does." Natalie bit her lip to keep from laughing. Chris raised his glass and said "top notch" and studied the interaction going on between Ashleigh, Victoire, and Teddy.

"How did you sleep last night, Ted?" Ashleigh asked sweetly and with that Victoire pulled Ashleigh by the arm and said, "All right. We're off to breakfast now."

Teddy panicked for a moment and asked, "Gonna come by and study again tonight, right Tor? How about eight?"

Victoire stopped, smiled and said, "I'll see you then." It was then Ashleigh who was grabbing Victoire by the elbow and leading the four of them away.

She whispered to Victoire, "Oh he's so going to snog you tonight." Natalie and Emma giggled.

Back where Teddy was, Chris commenced with grilling Teddy over what that was all about. "Study again? Did she study with you last night?" he asked.

Teddy grinned and turned to his food. "Yeah, yeah she did."

Chris smirked and said, "What were you studying that made Ashleigh say something about how the two of you slept? Shagging?"

Teddy coughed in his drink and Sam laughed and clapped him on the back. "No…. no it just got late and we were studying on my bed and… fell asleep. She left at like five this morning," he said as wiped himself off.

Sam sighed and said, "Tell me you kissed her already, Ted."

Teddy shook his head and said, "No… I almost did but then… I dunno. I didn't."

Chris leaned in and said, "Mate, she fancies you. I'm sure of it. And if you don't snog her tonight I'm taking away your man card."

Teddy laughed and said, "All right… all right."

The day turned into a boring day of studying for Victoire. But at 7:45 she was staring at herself in the mirror. She was wearing the same dress as earlier but she changed into flats. She knew Teddy would tease her if she wore the heels to study.

"You look _fine._ I promise. Stop worrying," Ashleigh said with exasperated sigh as she sat on Victoire's bed.

"Didn't you just wear a t-shirt and jeans last night? What's the big deal?" Natalie said, also sounding highly annoyed.

"She just wants to look nice. After all. Tonight is _the_ night, isn't it?" Charlotte said, giggling. She had practically squealed when they told her the story earlier.

"Not over doing it?" she asked as she turned back to the girls.

Ashleigh sighed and said, "No! Just _go_ already. And if something goes wrong or you need a break from snogging or something we'll be in the library. Okay?"

Victoire smiled and quickly grabbed her bookbag. "Wish me luck!" she said as she raced out of the dormitory.

Ashleigh shook her head and said, "Only they would plan a study session so that they can hook up."

Victoire lightly hummed the whole way down to the Heads' common room. She was just about to round the corner when she heard Chelsea's voice. She did not want to have to deal with her right now, so she decided she would just wait for her to leave.

"Ugh. Why can't you just study with that little fifth year in the Ravenclaw common room and not ours?" she said.

Teddy sounded exasperated. "Because you're not even using ours tonight and it'll be quieter." In fact, he was very exasperated. He didn't want to fight with Chelsea when Victoire would be there any minute.

"Ugh, just don't shag in the common room, ok?" Chelsea said as he crossed her room.

"There won't be any…. shagging," he said defensively.

"Please, as if she doesn't have you wrapped around her finger. You're all over her like all the other stupid guys," she said.

_Merlin, Victoire could walk up any minute and she can't hear that. What if Chris is wrong? She would probably be too weirded out to hang out with me anymore if she didn't fancy me._ Teddy had to end the conversation, now.

"It's not like that, Chelsea. I've told you before. She's just my best friend. She's like a little sister, really," he said. "Now why don't you just go? I'm sure you don't want to see her anyways."

Victoire was crushed. _Just_ his best friend? Like a little _sister?_ She turned and walked as quickly as she could back to where she came from. She knew it. He saw her as a little sister. She was just this ickle fifth year. She felt the tears forming and she did her best to push them away. She walked right past the library and stopped. In the window she could see all of her friends and Isaac and his friends. She was _not_ going to sit and wallow in the dormitory. She was going to study, and they were going to distract her from any thoughts of Teddy.

She tried to calm herself down and she walked in. The girls looked shocked, and Isaac looked ecstatic.

"Early night?" Ashleigh whispered through a fake smile. Victoire merely nodded.

"Here, let me get you a chair," Isaac said as she pulled up a chair for her, right next to him.

"Thanks, Isaac," she said as she sat down.

Ashleigh passed her a note, and Victoire explained, trying very hard not to let Isaac or any of the other guys see what she was writing.

A few times Isaac's leg brushed up against hers, and each time he did he smiled at her. She politely smiled back. A few hours of studying later another note was passed to her, and she assumed one of the girls wanted more details. However, it was from Isaac, and it said, "Want to hang out tomorrow night for a little while? Just you and me? I know it's the night before exams start but we'll need a bit of a break. I'll even throw in some sugar quills."

Victoire simply wrote "sure."

Teddy waited twenty minutes before stalking off to figure out why Victoire was late. She was _always_ on time. He passed the library and had to give a double take. There was Victoire, her back to the door, sitting with her friends and _Isaac._ He quickly changed his looks so that he could be unrecognizable. He pretended to be very interested in a book near the group's table and noticed as Isaac brushed his leg against Victoire and smiled.

"Argh, what time is it?" said one of the boys.

Victoire glanced at her watch and said, "Almost 8:30."

Ashleigh rolled her eyes and said, "We've only been here 30 minutes, Adam. You're going to have to suck it up." Madame Pince promptly shushed them.

Teddy left then. Victoire knew what time it was. She was purposely either late or not coming. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked back to his dormitory.

The next day he saw Victoire at lunch and asked if he could talk to her.

"Alone," he said to an even colder than normal Ashleigh.

"What's up?" Victoire asked when they stepped away from the group.

"I was just… well you didn't come by last night," he said, trying to mask the disappointment.

Victoire shrugged. "Well a bunch of us studied as a group. You seemed busy with Chelsea…"

"What?" Teddy interrupted. "Did you come by and leave or something?"

"No," Victoire lied. "I mean I'm sure you were busy with her. Whatever. You know what I mean. You both have NEWTs tomorrow and it was actually good for me to study with people who have the same test as me tomorrow."

Teddy raised an eyebrow. "As opposed to someone who's already _taken_ the test before?"

She shrugged again and said, "I didn't want to bother you with any questions. You need to study and not worry about some younger girl bugging you with questions. Don't worry, I understand. Dominique does it to me."

Teddy was beyond confused. Victoire sighed and said, "Well, I really need to get back to lunch so I can get back to studying. Is that all you needed?"

"Er… yeah…I guess," he said, wondering why girls were so complicated. She seemed happy to study with him two nights ago and then yesterday at breakfast. "Study session tonight, then?"

She shook her head and said, "Sorry, we're having a study group in Ravenclaw common room to go over anything we might have missed. I'll see you later, though." And with that she rejoined her friends.

Teddy would never understand girls. Either that or he would never understand her.


	4. Outside Advice

Teddy didn't see Victoire for more than a few minutes the rest of the week. She had OWLs, and he had NEWTs. After that she was always busy with her friends. Even on the train ride home she declined sitting with him so that she could sit with her friends. She gave him a hug goodbye at King's Cross, but that was it.

"I don't get it, Ted. She was blushing like crazy that one morning," Chris said as he lay on Teddy's bed at Harry and Ginny's house.

Teddy was getting ready for his graduation party. It was two weeks since school ended and he and Victoire had barely corresponded by owl.

"I don't get it either," Teddy said with a sigh.

There was a knock on the door and Harry poked his head in. "Hey, could we talk for a minute? Do you mind, Chris?" Harry asked.

Chris shook his head, said "No sir, Mr. Potter" and grabbed a snitch resting on Teddy's nightstand and began tossing it in the air.

As Teddy walked out of the room he said, "Hey, be careful with that. That's the snitch from the last game of the season."

Chris laughed and said, "Oh yeah? The one where Vic-" Teddy glared and Chris quickly coughed.

When Teddy walked out he said, "What's up?"

Harry stuffed his hands in his pockets and said, "I dunno. You've just been acting moody lately. Are you upset about graduating or something? I thought you'd be happy since you got enough NEWTs to qualify for the Auror program."

Teddy smiled and said, "Ginny made you ask, didn't she?" Harry smirked and shrugged. Teddy paused and debated on what to say. "It's just… there's this girl."

Harry nodded and smiled. "Yeah, they're always the ones."

"Yeah, well. I thought… this is going to sound really stupid. I thought she fancied me. And… I've fancied her for a while. I mean she did all the signs, right? And I know her. We know everything about each other. I could _tell_ she was acting different. And then after her OWLs-"

Harry interrupted and said in a surprised tone, "Wait. It's not…"

"Victoire," Teddy said, nodding. "Erm, yeah."

Harry smiled. "I wondered. Ginny thought so, too."

Teddy rolled his eyes and said, "What? Want a prize?"

Harry laughed and crossed his arms, "Fine. So why don't you do something about it then?"

"Because! She's so bloody hard to read! And she probably just sees me as some sort of big brother anyway. I mean what the hell should I do?" he said. Harry simply nodded. "Seriously, what should I do?"

"Oh!" Harry said as he realized Teddy wasn't asking a rhetorical question. He put a hand on Teddy's shoulder and led him towards the kitchen. "I won't be a good one to ask. Once you've got the girlfriend, I'm good. But… well, I only had one real girlfriend and I had no idea she fancied me until we kissed so…" As they entered the kitchen Harry said, "Hey, Gin. Teddy needs to talk." Teddy blushed. He really didn't want to talk to Ginny about this. She was like his mother. Why didn't Harry just bring his Gram and Mrs. Weasley in while he was at it?

Ginny smiled and finished pouring some pumpkin juice into a pitcher. "Yeah? What's going on?"

Harry left Teddy's side and walked over to Ginny. "You look gorgeous, Gin," as he leaned in to kiss her.

"Do you two really have to do all of that in front of me?" Teddy asked, looking away.

Ginny smirked and said, "All right, what do we need to talk about Teddy."

Teddy shifted his feet. "Well, I fancy a girl," he said simply.

Ginny smiled and said, "Yes, well that's bound to happen from time to time. You haven't asked advice on any other girls before, though."

Harry leaned against the counter and said, "That's because this time it's Victoire."

Teddy looked at Harry and said, "For a while it has."

"And he doesn't know what to do. So, I thought you might be able to give him some advice on what to do when you fancied someone for a while and think they only see you as a sibling," Harry said with a cheeky grin.

Ginny raised an eyebrow and said, "You really think higher of yourself than you should, Harry Potter." She turned to Teddy and said, "All right, spill if you want me to be able to help at all."

So Teddy did. He told her about the times Victoire blushed and through embarrassment he told her the times he thought they almost kissed. He even told Ginny about how they fell asleep studying and how Victoire had once called him her constant.

"And you didn't just… kiss her already?" Ginny said with a concerned look on her face.

"It's not that easy…" he said, blushing again.

"It is. She fancies you," Ginny said as she began pulling out the food that would be set out for the guests.

Teddy furrowed his brow and asked, "How do you know?"

"Because," Ginny said simply, "I know Victoire. And I know how it is to be a girl. She's probably just worried you think she's a little sister. She's younger than you, so she probably doesn't think she has a chance. After all, you're two years above her, were Head Boy, and seeker. She's probably just insecure, Teddy."

Teddy shook his head and began helping her set out the food. "But she dated that Colin Matthews prat. He was two years older and the seeker for Ravenclaw!"

Ginny smiled and said, "But he wasn't you. So there wasn't her having to worry that he saw her as a little sister-type. And I bet he asked her out."

Teddy nodded and Harry walked over and rested a hand on his godson's shoulder. "You just gotta tell her somehow. Take the plunge. Trust me… it'll be worth it," he said with a smile. He then began pushing Teddy out of the kitchen and said, "Better get back to Chris. He's probably broken half the things in your room with that snitch."

When Harry turned back around, Ginny was standing with her hands on her hips and a smile on her face. "Worth it, huh Potter?" she said.

He smiled as he walked over to her and said, "Definitely, Potter." Then his hand was on her cheek and his lips on hers.


	5. Congratulations, You Don't Know Me

Victoire was staring at her reflection. "Ugh, Why am I so nervous? I have a boyfriend. I should just… think of Isaac."

Ashleigh sat on Victoire's bed, looking through Victoire's photographs. She rolled her eyes and said, "Because you've been dating Isaac for a week and fancied Teddy for almost three years."

Victoire turned around and said, "I'm hopeless."

Ashleigh stood up and said, "No, you're not. I don't understand why you fancy him so much. Sure, I guess he's cute and athletic. He might be a little cool. But he's not exactly Colin Matthews…"

"That's why," Victoire interjected.

Ashleigh gave her look that meant she wasn't done and added, "But for some reason you really fancy him. And it's going to be hard to get over that. You're right, though. I don't want to see you pining over some guy who is too stupid to see he could have you when you could date someone who seems to really like you because of you."

Victoire smiled and said, "Aw, Ash. Who knew you had such a sentimental heart?"

"Oh, shut up," Ashleigh said with a glare. "But don't worry, he would be an idiot to think of you as a little sister like that."

Victoire looked at herself again. She was in a classy silvery grey, retro looking dress with silver heels. It was short, but not near enough for her dad to get upset. Her hair was down with a gentle curl. Just then her mother poked her head in and said, "Victoire, we need to go. Ashleigh, you're going to 'ave to go 'ome now."

Ashleigh nodded and said, "Yes, Mrs. Weasley." When Fleur stepped out Ashleigh gave Victoire a hug and said, "Good luck. It'll be fine."

The Weasleys left right after Ashleigh flooed out. Victoire couldn't help but be nervous. This was a party _for_ Teddy. She would have to talk to him at some point. Luckily for a while she was able to just catch up with some of her own family, and whenever she was around Teddy it was in a larger group. There was one moment that she was afraid she would have to be alone with him, but luckily James dragged him outside to play with her little cousins. Chris seemed to be giving her a look that wasn't particularly kind, and so she hid out in the kitchen.

"Victoire," her aunt Ginny said with a smile. "Did your mother send you in here to help me? You don't have to. I'm sure you want to hang out with Teddy and his friends."

Victoire shook her head and began helping getting ice to refill the pitcher of punch. "No, no I would actually really like to help you."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. Victoire had the same downtrodden look on her face that Teddy had had the past couple of weeks. "Oh, well, thank you then. So…. How did OWLs go again? Did your dad say ten?"

"Yes, ma'am. Eight 'O's' and two 'E's'," Victoire said, nodding.

"That's great, Victoire. Only a few away from your Aunt Hermione," she said, and Victoire laughed. "Do you know what you want to do yet?"

Victoire nodded and said, "I want to work in International Cooperation at the Ministry. I'ld love to travel and I already know three languages fluently and a little of two more. It would be… amazing, really."

Ginny smiled and said, "Well, I'm sure you'll do it. So, school's good…. What about boys?"

Victoire laughed and said, "Nice segway, Aunt Ginny. Well, um, that's going good actually. I'm dating this boy named Isaac. He's very nice."

Ginny frowned. Teddy didn't mention that, and she figured he didn't know. "Oh, really? So, you really fancy him, then?"

Victoire shrugged and said, "Well, I don't know yet. I've only been his girlfriend for a week."

Ginny laughed and said, "He's your boyfriend and you don't know how much you fancy him?"

Victoire frowned and said, "It's just Hogwarts. It's not forever. And I fancied him a lot in the beginning of third year and then-" but Victoire stopped herself. "And he's very nice. We've been friends for a while so it's not just about my looks, for once. It's refreshing really."

Ginny debated on going further. She just had to prod a little more though. "Yes, but you could be missing out being with someone you really fancy by settling for someone else."

Victoire shook her head and stopped helping. She looked out the window and saw Teddy spin Lily around. She turned to her aunt and said, "Why should I wait around for some boy that I really fancy who will never see me that way when I can try and be happy with someone who actually wants to be my boyfriend?"

Ginny smirked and said, "Ah, so there is someone you fancy more?"

Victoire laughed and shook her head and said, "No, I'm just explaining why it might be ok to… "settle" as you said. I didn't fancy anyone before Isaac asked me out. So… why not?"

Ginny glanced outside and watched as Teddy was now being jumped on by all of the Potter kids. She really thought Victoire was just hiding that she fancied someone, and she thought that someone was Teddy.

But then Fleur came in and said, "_Mon cheri_, everyone wants you to play some museec. Do you mind playing for a leetle while?"

"No, maman," Victoire said as she waved to Ginny.

A little while later Teddy came in to rejoin his friends and he saw Victoire playing the piano and singing in the background as everyone talked and enjoyed the party. When he saw the piano sitting there earlier he guessed that would happen. It seems that every party the Weasley/Potter family party had included a piano in case the adults wanted Victoire or Dominique to play, and Victoire had definitely gotten the Veelan gene for singing. He smiled as he watched her, but was interrupted by Ginny nudging him.

"Teddy… she has a boyfriend now. Some Isaac boy she's been dating for a week. I really think she fancies you though. She probably just-" but Teddy walked over to his friends. He didn't want to hear Ginny's excuse that was being made because she felt sorry for Teddy. He forced himself not to look at Victoire, to try and tune her out.

"Victoire! Play a song for Teddy! For graduation!" Lily said as she ran over and climbed on the piano bench.

Ginny blanched, and Harry, who was sitting next to Ginny on their couch, looked warily between Teddy and Victoire.

"Oh… I can't think of a good one off the top of my head…" Victoire said, looking particularly nervous.

"Come on, Torie. You listen to the same stuff. Just pick something," Hugo said as he walked over, too.

"Go ahead, dear. That would be such a nice gift," Mrs. Weasley said, and Ginny cringed that both her mother and Hugo had now chimed in.

Victoire nodded and said, "Um… all right. Well…."

"This could end very badly…" Ginny muttered to Harry.

Victoire looked over to Teddy and forced herself to look confident. She smiled and said, "Well, here's to you leaving Hogwarts and here's to our favorite muggle band."

She played a few notes and then sang, "_You say yes, I say no. You say stop, and I say go, go, go."_

Teddy laughed, and Ginny looked between them confused.

_You say goodbye, and I say hello. Hello, hello. I don't know why you say good bye, I say hello._

Ginny smiled and leaned into Harry. "It's kind of cute," she whispered as Victoire continued to sing.

"How?" Harry asked as he began stroking her hand with his thumb.

"Well, it's kind of about them being different. And it's their favorite muggle band. _And_ she's saying that it isn't goodbye. It's not what I expected but…"

Harry smiled and said, "What did you expect, then?"

Ginny sighed and said, "I was worried she was going to sing some song about unrequited love or something. Fleur always says that Victoire uses music and photography for when she's really upset or really happy."

Harry shook his head and said, "That definitely would have been a bit awkward."

She continued to sing and Lily and Hugo bobbed along to the song, smiling and sometimes even clapping along. When she finished Teddy laughed again and thanked her.

Victoire smiled back, and then her dad said, "That was great. How about another one Torie?"

She laughed and said, "Why do I always turn into the wireless?"

"Oh… come on. Play another old song for us," he said with a smile. Victoire playing was like showing off how good his daughter was, which he had been doing quite a lot that night. She did have _ten _OWLs, after all.

Victoire looked up and smirked at Teddy. He smirked back, knowing she was about to teach her dad a lesson.

_Never knew how much I loved you, never knew how much I cared. When you put your arms around me, I get a fever that's so hard to bear. _

"All right, Tor, I get it," Bill said with a laugh. She was singing the slightly sultrier side of her Veelan singing voice.

_You give me fever when you kiss me. Fever when you hold me tight. Fever in the morning_

"Victoire…" Bill said without a laugh. Teddy also shifted uncomfortably.

_Fever all through the night._

"That's enough," Bill said sternly.

Victoire stopped and giggled. Teddy and the boys chuckled as well. "Yes, daddy," she said. She looked up at Teddy, who was shaking his head with a smirk. Her expression changed and she looked back to the keys. Teddy was back to talking with his friends. The adults were all talking to each other. No one would really notice what else she played, right?

She began playing again, her eyes closed.

_You give your hand to me, and then you say hello. And I can hardly speak, my heart is beating so. And anyone can tell, you think you know me well, but you don't know me._

"Oh shite…" Ginny said as she recognized the song, and caught on to what was going on.

"What?" Harry whispered. Teddy was glancing at Victoire now.

_No, you don't know the one who dreams of you each night, and longs to kiss your lips, and longs to hold you tight._

"That was what I was worried about," she said, nodding towards Victoire. Harry began paying attention, and suddenly he understood.

_To you I am just a friend, that's all I've ever been 'cause you don't know me._

Teddy was staring at Victoire now.

_I never knew the art of making love, though my heart aches with love for you. Mmm, afraid and shy, I let my chance go by. The chance that you might love me, too._

"Wow… she sounds like she's really pouring her soul out, hmm?" Ginny said.

Fleur smiled and said, "Zat's zee Veela in her. Eet's supposed to sound like that."

_You give your hand to me and then you say goodbye. And I watch you walk away beside the lucky guy. Oh you'll never ever know, the one who loves you so. No, you don't know me._

Victoire was looking back at Teddy then. Dominique studied the both of them and it began to dawn on her as well. Ginny turned to Harry and said, "Okay, I really can't even watch anymore."

_I say, you'll never ever know the one who loves you so._

She looked back down at the keyboard as she played a few more notes before finishing with,

_No, you don't know me._

Teddy was still staring blankly at Victoire as she stared down at the keys. Dominique helped Lily off the piano bench and sat down next to her sister. She began playing a Celestina Warbeck song she knew Victoire would know, and sure enough Victoire nodded and started playing and singing along lower on the keys.

Ginny looked up at Harry and said, "You know, Hermione let me listen to that song in my…. third year, when I was trying to stop fancying you." She sighed and rested her head against Harry's shoulder. She really did feel bad for the two of them. "It felt like it was me all over again."

Harry rubbed her hand and gave her a kiss on the temple. "Sorry, love," he whispered as he continued to rub her hand.

Ginny looked back up to see what Teddy was doing. He was looking down, and then suddenly he was being led out by one of his friends. Problem was, the friend was a girl. The bigger problem was, and Ginny didn't realize this, was that the girl was Chelsea.

"Can you believe we're done with school?" Chelsea said with a smile once they made it outside.

"Yeah, kinda crazy, isn't it?" he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I was thinking… with that song… this was my last chance to really tell you something I've been meaning to tell you," Chelsea said, still smiling.

The mention of the song made it replay in his head. Merlin, he loved it when she sang. Sometimes she did it under her breath without realizing it. He loved it. He loved _her._ It drove him absolutely mental.

"So what do you think?" Chelsea said in what was almost a… flirtatious way.

"Sorry, wait, what?" Teddy said, realizing he had completely tuned her out.

Chelsea giggled and said, "I said that I thought that we should still hang out this summer now that we won't see each other everyday. And you know… maybe we could date."

"Oh, Chelsea. Erm… I'm sorry but-" Teddy started. And while he tried to find the words to say to turn down Chelsea nicely, inside Victoire was becoming more upset. She saw him walk out with Chelsea. Chelsea was giving him the most flirtatious smile she had ever seen Chelsea give. This was ridiculous for her to feel this way. She had her own boyfriend, after all.

Dominique brought her out of her thoughts when she asked, "Are you okay?"

Victoire nodded and looked to the door again. She hated this. All of this. She stared down at the keys before getting up and walking over to her mother. "Maman, I don't feel very good. Could I floo home?" Victoire said quietly.

Dominique stepped up behind her and said, "Me too, Maman."

Fleur quickly checked the girls' heads for a temperature and said, "Oh… I 'ope you didn't catch somezing. I'll go, too."

Victoire shook her head and said, "No, maman. We'll be fine."

Bill looked at the two girls, concerned and said, "It's okay Fleur. Let them go. We'll go home soon anyway."

Fleur nodded and said, "All right. Go to bed wheen you get 'ome so you feel better, okay?"

The girls nodded and Victoire turned to Harry and Ginny and said, "Thanks for inviting us over."

She turned to Dominique and said "I'll be just a minute" before walking outside. Chelsea was holding Teddy's hand and was entirely too close for Victoire's liking.

"Erm… sorry, I just wanted to say goodbye before I left," Victoire said as she looked down at the ground. She was trying to pinpoint when exactly was the last time she felt _this_ uncomfortable.

Teddy pulled his hand away and said nervously, "This early? S-something wrong?"

She shook her head and said, "I just don't feel very well. Nicki doesn't either, we're both going." She walked over to Teddy, gave him a hug, and said, "Congratulations. Goodbye."

Teddy hugged her back but couldn't give any other response. Just like that she walked inside and Teddy began fumbling over his words more as he tried to tell Chelsea that he wasn't so sure about the dating thing, and no it had nothing to do with Victoire, and really he didn't understand why Chelsea was getting so upset over her.

Back at Shell College, Dominique crawled into Victoire's bed. She was fourteen and Victoire was sixteen, and they hadn't slept in the same bed for any reason in a couple of years. She could tell Victoire was upset though. "I can't believe it," she whispered. "You love Teddy."

Victoire looked out the window and said, "I know."

_Author's Note: "You Don't Know Me" is by Ray Charles_


	6. The Consolation Prize

Two and a half months had come and gone pretty quickly. Teddy was busy with Auror training, and Victoire was busy with traveling and her new boyfriend. Isaac really was everything she could have asked for in a boyfriend. He was considerate and smart but still bantered with her enough to keep her interested. They had been friends for a few years now, and so he actually knew her. He didn't push her to be a certain way or to go farther than she wanted physically. He was (almost) exactly what she had been wanting.

But one day, a little more than halfway through August, she was walking with Isaac through Hogsmeade when she realized it wasn't enough. Her thoughts still wandered to Teddy sometimes, even though she had only seen him twice since his graduation party and they had written to each other once every week or two. It wasn't fair to Isaac. She couldn't allow herself to be completely emotionally open to him as long as she still had feelings for Teddy, and she didn't think she would stop having these feelings until she did something about it.

"Something wrong, love?" Isaac asked after a long period of Victoire not speaking.

Victoire looked up at him and stopped. She knew what she had to do. She looked down as she tried to formulate what she could possibly say. She sighed, looked up, and said, "Issac, I can't do this-us anymore. I'm sorry… it's just not working," she said earnestly.

Isaac looked as if he was not expecting that, and she figured he probably didn't. "Wh-what? Victoire, I mean if something's wrong we can fix it… what do you mean it's not working?"

"I know this is really cliché but it honestly has nothing to do with you. You've been prefect, really. I'm the mess here. It's not something we can fix," she said as she let go of his hand and let it dangle at her side.

Isaac still looked confused. "I just… this is completely out of the blue, Victoire. Look, maybe you need a few days to think, yeah? Figure out what's… what's wrong, and then we can work on it? I mean.."

Victoire shook her head and said, "I'm sorry it just… it can't. I think I just can't do relationships right now. I need to sort myself out." She sighed before finally saying, "I'm so sorry, Isaac. It's not fair to you. I just… I have to do this."

It took all the strength she could muster to turn around and walk to WWW so that she could floo home. She felt wretched. When she got home she went straight to her room. She knew if she saw her mother she would just ask why Victoire was home so early, and Victoire really did not want to talk about it. Instead she sat at her vanity and began to dwell. She just broke up with probably the most amazing boyfriend she has ever had because she has feelings for her best friend who probably does not feel the same way. Sure, she found out later that he and Chelsea did not become an item, but that's probably just because of how horrid Chelsea was.

She knew that she wouldn't have closure unless she confronted Teddy and found out that he definitely did not have feelings or that they might have a chance together, and so after spending quite a long time staring off into space and thinking, she decided to take action. Once she knew what she had to do, she acted quickly. She scrambled into her closet. She couldn't get too dressy because then it just seemed like she was trying too hard. Every outfit she thought of seemed that way to her. She finally decided on jeans, sandals, and a powder blue tank top. She quickly went to the fireplace and hoped he was home.

Teddy was exhausted and irritated. Some days he loved what he was doing, and some days he wondered why he had gotten into the Auror program in the first place. Today was one of the latter. He went through grueling training sessions all day and in one of the fighting sessions he was paired with bloody Colin Matthews. That's right, Matthews couldn't just irritate him at Hogwarts, he had to go and join the Auror program, too. It gave him a headache. When he got to his flat that he was sharing with Chris, he collapsed on the couch. He laid there for a full half-hour before he suddenly heard a very familiar voice say his name. He sat up and looked to the fireplace and saw Victoire's head in the fire.

"What the… Tor, is something wrong?" he asked, rubbing at his eyes.

"Erm, no, not really. I just need to talk to you. Can I come over… now?" she asked. He noticed how nervous and hurried she sounded, and it definitely did not sound like nothing was wrong.

"Er, sure. Go ahead and floo in," he said as he tried to pick up the _Daily Prophets_ and plates and cups sitting in the living room. When she flooed in moments later he was taken a back, partly from her speed and partly from her appearance.

"Merlin, Weasley, what's wrong with you tonight?" he said with a laugh as he sent the plates and cups floating into the kitchen.

Victoire momentarily relaxed as she looked around. He realized that this was her first time in the flat. They had seen each other once at Harry's and once in Diagon Alley since his graduation party. He kept meaning to invite her over, but they both had been fairly busy. She smiled, and he was glad to see it.

"Wow, Lupin, I'm impressed," she said with a bit of a smirk.

"Tor, it's not even decorated. It's a simple flat that two blokes live in. What's impressive about that?" he asked with a chuckle.

She shrugged with a smile and said, "I don't know, I guess it's just so grown up of you to have your own flat, your own job, your own life outside of Hogwarts now."

Teddy went back to sitting on the couch and said, "Well, I couldn't live at Gran's forever." His headache from earlier returned and he began to study her as he asked, "So what was the big deal?"

She looked a little simple for how she normally dressed everyday, and he liked it. He always loved her in blue. The way she looked right then as she smiled and appraised his unimpressive, normal flat seemed so… effortless. It soothed his bad mood to an extent.

The smile quickly faded and she sat down next to him. She began playing with the hem of her tank top as she talked. "Well, you see… Merlin, this is harder to get out that I thought… umm…"

He was actually a little amazed by how fast she had gone from completely collected to nervously twitching. "Tor, just spit it out. Did something happen?"

She looked up then and nodded her head. "Today at Hogsmeade, Isaac and I broke up, and I've been thinking a lot today, well longer than just today, but a lot today about well, a lot of things and-" she paused to take a deep breath "and I think I fancy you. Well, I know I do, actually. I've been so stupid this whole time when you're the person I always come to so… I knew I had to say something or it would just eat at me. So, um, I was hoping that I didn't just make a complete idiot of myself and that maybe you have some feelings for me, too, and we could give it a go, if you want."

She then stopped and stared at him. It was the first time she had ever asked a guy out. She felt scared out of her mind, even more so because it was Teddy. If this went badly her heart would be broken and she was fairly sure it could tear up their friendship. But she had to do it. She couldn't hold it in any longer. She gave him a smile as his expression remained unreadable.

Finally, he spoke. "So, you and Isaac broke up, so you decided to come over here and see if I wanted to start something?"

Her mind was racing. "Um, yes, I guess that's about right."

Teddy's frustrations from the day and his headache and this new frustration consumed him. Normally he would think before speaking, but he couldn't right now. "Right, right so as you said because you always come back to me after every little breakup you just figure this is a good place to settle, then?"

Now Victoire was the confused one. "What? No, Teddy, that's now what I meant at all-"

"Just because I'm your… your constant, doesn't mean I'll be the, what is it now? Fifth place prize," he said as he stood up. He felt incredibly mad at this point. He had been wanting to be with her for a while now and she decides she has feelings for him because, once again, she's vulnerable after another break-up. He didn't even notice the hurt look on her face or the fact that her eyes were growing darker.

"That's not what this is Teddy," she said quietly.

"Come on, what is it, then? I'm… I'm not going to be your rebound. Look I'm sorry some guy who I'm sure is another royal arsehole hurt you again but, I can't be your rebound," he said, looking down and sighing. When he looked up he realized how upset she was, and it began to break his own frustrations.

"You really think I value our friendship so little that I would jeopardize it for a rebound? That I'm so weak that because I've had a break-up I need to automatically… validate myself by trying to jump into a relationship with you? I thought you were the _one person_ that really knew me, Teddy. But if you were there's… there's just no way you would be thinking all this!" she said, and her eyes were practically bead-like. He even thought he saw a tear. "And by the way, I broke up with Isaac. You're not the rebound! _They_ were!"

And with that she turned on her heel and flooed away. He sat on the couch and tried to wrap his mind around what the hell just happened. He felt stupid for getting so angry but he didn't want to be used as a rebound. He cared about her too much, and he wouldn't be able to take that he was the consolation prize. But she was right, he did know her. The fact that she got so upset meant she did care, or at least he thought she did. What did she mean by "they" were the rebounds. Did she mean her ex-boyfriends?

"I dunno mate," Chris said a few days later. He had been at his girlfriend's flat the past few days. "I think she meant that maybe… they were her rebounds from you. I could be completely off but… it kinda sounds that way."

He sighed and put his face in hands. "I thought it might mean that. Merlin, I am such a wanker."

Chris laughed and clapped him on the back. "Right you are, but you're best friends, she'll talk to you and you can just explain your undying love and it'll all be roses."

Teddy gave Chris an unamused look and said, "She hasn't written me back yet. I've apologized for overreacting and asked her to talk to me but… she won't respond. She's so bloody stubborn and when she's mad or hurt she gets worse. And telling her how I feel isn't really the best thing to say over a note. She's going to France again either tomorrow or the next day for a week before she has to come back for school, so I'll probably just have to wait until after then."

Chris shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "Well, she's a wounded, what 16 year old girl? Wow, you're really robbing the cradle there…"

"Not the time," Teddy interjected.

Chris leaned towards Teddy and said, "Whatever. Point is she's probably just embarrassed or something. Don't you have that party you'll see her at next week?"

Teddy sighed and said, "Yeah, in a week and a half. She'll have to go. They all go to their grandparents the last day before term starts."

"All right then," Chris said, standing up as if the mattered was closed, "Just keep owling her until she goes to France, and if she won't talk to you just corner her then."

Teddy nodded and for a minute felt a glimmer of hope.


	7. The Nicest Thing

"You're nervous," Dominique said as she pulled her hair up.

"I am not," Victoire said, staring at her reflection. She kept fussing with her hair, even though she knew she was being stupid to care so much.

Dominique smirked and said, "I don't remember you ever caring so much about how you look any other time we went to Gram's."

Victoire gave Dominique a look that meant "drop it" and said, "He's probably not going to be there since he doesn't have school tomorrow, and if he is I want to show him that I'm perfectly fine."

Dominique sighed and said, "Can't you just write back to him? He sounds sorry. I bet he just got upset because he really likes you."

Victoire put on some lip gloss and said, "Right. He still thought I was the kind of person who would use my best friend to get over a boy. Look, it's done. I can have closure now and just… move on. I knew there was a good chance he wouldn't want to… become something, but I needed the closure. And I've got it. I'm back."

Victoire flashed the best smile she could, and Dominique said with a shrug, "If you say so…"

The night went really well. Her grandmother went on about how she couldn't believe how old Victoire was now and Victoire sort of liked being the oldest kid there. She hung around Dominique and her aunts and uncles most of the night, and Teddy was no where to be seen.

"Harry, dear, is Teddy not coming tonight? I guess he's getting a bit old for this," Molly Weasley said.

Harry smiled and said, "I think he's just going to come late. He said he was coming. He probably just got held up at training."

Ginny smiled and rested her hand on Harry's knees. "Mmm, I remember those days. I was lucky to see Harry at all during training," she said with a tiny mock-glare to Harry.

Harry laughed and said, "Hey, I'm still sorry about it. Can't help it though. They don't exactly give you a schedule. They own you for the first two years of training."

Dominique shot Victoire a knowing look, and Victoire rolled her eyes back. She was enjoying herself without Teddy there. She was living just fine without him, thank you. She still had her four best girl friends, and Ashleigh had been doing a great job of keeping Victoire's mind off of Teddy.

"Your mum said you took a lot of pictures of France again and brought them, Victoire. Could we see them, dear?" Molly said with a sweet smile. It broke Victoire out of her daze and she quickly went through her purse to pull out the photos.

"Of course, Gram," Victoire said as she sat next to Molly. She began showing her grandmother the pictures and explaining where they were taken and what was going on.

"Oh, they're so nice. You're so good at this," Molly said as she looked at the pictures.

"Thank you, Gram," Victoire said politely.

"She gets all the artsy stuff from her mother," Bill said with a proud smile. "Her and Nicki both."

Fleur sighed and said, "And unfortunately Louis 'ad to get the Weasley need for Quee-ditch"

Victoire chuckled a little when four Weasleys said "Hey!" to her mother's remark.

"Victoire, come here," her dad said, and Victoire walked over to her father. "Look, I brought your camera. Do you mind taking some pictures tonight for your grandparents? I think they'll really like it."

Victoire smiled and said, "Since everyone's here tonight?"

Her dad smiled, "Exactly. They'll really like it."

Victoire nodded, took her camera, and said, "No, I don't mind."

She spent the next forty-five minutes taking pictures of her aunts and uncles talking and her cousins playing. Her brother and some of her cousins were playing Quidditch in the back yard while the younger ones ran around the yard, trying to pester the gnomes without getting too close.

She chuckled as took pictures of Albus, Rose, Roxanne, Lily, and Hugo playing chase in the backyard when Lily squeeled, "Teddy!"

Lily quickly ran to Teddy and he picked her up with a laugh. His hair was in silver spikes and his eyes were a dark blue. He didn't look like himself and he looked exactly like himself at the same time. The shot of Teddy picking up Lilly and giving her a twirl was too good for her not to take the picture, but then she quickly walked off towards the house to take pictures in there and away for Teddy. She thought she would be fine, but she just couldn't stand to talk to him right then.

"Hey, Tor, wait up," Teddy said as he put Lilly down and chased after her. When he walked out he just stopped and watched as Victoire laughed and took pictures of her cousins playing. He was an _idiot._

"I'm busy," she said, a little colder than she meant to.

"You didn't respond to my owls," he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and following her in the house.

"And you can't take a hint, apparently," she said, completely emotionless, as she began taking pictures again.

"Can't we just talk about it? Look I'm sorry I overreacted. I really think we should talk about it and figure all of this out, we can at least be friends still, Tor, I'm sorry I said-"

But she couldn't let him keep talking. "No, I don't want to talk about it. I was stupid for telling you, I know, but I had to. So let's just forget about it and move on with out lives, all right?"

He sighed and said, "But we're not moving on. We're not even talking…"

"Yes, we are. Right now. And now we're done," she said, trying to figure out a way that she could completely avoid him.

"Oh, Gram!" she suddenly said with a smile. "Nicki and I haven't played any music for you all night! Nicki, mind if I go first?"

"Well, that would be just lovely dear," Molly said with a smile. Dominique raised her eyebrow at Teddy standing just behind Victoire, looking stressed, and Victoire turned and gave him a "we're finished here" look before sitting at the piano bench.

Her composure was much better this time around. She played fun older songs and quite a few Celestina Warbeck songs to please her grandparents. It of course had to go downhill, though. She managed to sneak in a Weird Sisters song and she glanced over at Teddy to see him laughing at Ginny bobbing along to it and her grandparents looking mildly confused. She smirked and he mouthed "I miss you." It made her furrow her brow. He wasn't allowed to just yell at her and try to make her feel like a bad person and then just act cute and it's all fine all over again. She thought she had closure but she didn't.

Fleur cocked an eyebrow after the fast-paced Weird Sisters song and said, " 'Ow about sometheeng a leetle… slower, mon cheri. You've been playing some beautiful songs lately, play one of theem."

Victoire nodded and looked at the keys. Dominique walked past the piano and discreetly said, "Just say how you feel."

Victoire took a deep breath and refused to look at Teddy.

_All I know is that you're so nice. You're the nicest thing I've seen. I wish that we could give it a go. See if we could be something._

Teddy stiffened. He had been talking to Harry about training, keeping Victoire in his eyesight the whole time.

"Ted? You all right?" Harry asked, and Teddy looked over at Victoire. She didn't look at him at all as she sang. It wasn't like last time.

_I wish I was your favorite girl. I wish you thought I was the reason you were in the world. I wish my smile was your favorite kind of smile, I wish the way that I dressed was your favorite kind of style._

And all of that was true. All of it. He felt like even more of an idiot.

"Teddy?" Harry said, waving a hand in front of Teddy's face.

"Erm, sorry," Teddy said, blushing a little bit. "What was the question?

_I wish you couldn't figure me out, but you always want to know what I was about. I wish you would hold my hand when I was upset. I wish you would never forget the look on my face when we first met. _

Teddy chuckled and Harry raised an eyebrow. Teddy and Victoire probably met as babies. Good, maybe this song wasn't about them after all. It would hurt too much if it was.

_I wish you had a favorite beauty spot that you loved secretly because it was on a hidden bit that no one else could see._

Bill gave an unamused look in the direction of Victoire, but looked over at Teddy when Teddy suddenly choked.

"Teddy, what's gotten into you?" Harry asked as he clapped a hand on to Teddy's back.

"Sorry… it just went the wrong way…." He said, holding up his butterbeer. Ginny put a hand on Harry's knee and gave him a knowing look before looking over at Victoire. Bill was confused. What exactly was going on here?

_Basically, I wish that you loved me._

Teddy suddenly was blankly staring at Harry as he tried to talk to him. Bill noticed Victoire was staring very hard at the keys and Nicki was standing by the piano looking sad. Bill quickly nudged his wife and explained what he was seeing, and Fleur began watching as well.

_I wish that you needed me. I wish that you knew when I said two sugars, actually I meant three. I wish that without me your heart would break. Yeah, I wish that without me you would be spending the rest of your nights awake._

Victoire had just closed her eyes and Teddy was leaning into the couch, staring at her looking moody. Ginny was muttering to Harry to try to talk to him and Fleur was studying the entire situation with Bill trying to figure out what was going on. Victoire and Teddy couldn't have… something… going on between them.

_I wish that without me you couldn't eat. Yeah, I wish that I was the last thing on your mind before you went to sleep._

Ginny finally leaned in and whispered, "Teddy, is something wrong?"

Bill muttered "I think Victoire has a crush" to Fleur, but she shook her head.

"No, I theenk it's more than zat," Fleur said with a sad look on her face that mirrored Nicki's look.

_Look, all I know is that you're the nicest thing I've ever seen. And I wish that we could see if we could be something._

Victoire's soft voice broke at the end of that and she looked over at Teddy for a moment before singing again,

_Yeah, I wish we could see if we could be something._

Her voice trembled at the last few words and after she played the last few notes she quickly got up, grabbed her camera, and went to the kitchen. Nicki followed after her and Fleur quickly got up as well.

"I'll 'andle eet," she said to Bill as she followed her daughters into the kitchen.

Teddy got up and followed too. When he walked in the two girls were quickly grabbing their purses and Victoire was tugging on her cardigan.

"Victoire-" he said, but no more words would come. _Just tell her. Tell her what she means to you._

"Not now," Victoire said as she wiped at her eyes. She quickly began speaking in French and Fleur nodded.

"Teddy, I theenk you should go. Nicki, stay 'ere weeth your papa and Louis. Tell your papa zat we're going 'ome and we'll see 'im later. Give your grandparents a kiss for Victoire, yes?"

"But maman-" Nicki said as she fought between glaring at Teddy and protesting her mother.

"No 'but's, let's go Victoire," she said as Victore responded in French.

Teddy could kick himself for never learning French when Victoire offered to teach him. She knew he had no idea what she was saying.

"Victoire, wait-" he said but she was gone. Her mother side-along disapparated them home.

He went back into the living room to sulk the rest of the night. An hour later, Ginny was telling him to go home so he could get more rest before training.

"Either go home and sleep or we can talk about this," she said as she began rounding up her children. Lily was asleep in her arms while James was arguing with Harry about having to go to bed early ("But I'm not a little kid! I'm going to Hogwarts tomorrow!"). Teddy ruffled Al's hair and said, "Sure, I'll talk. Might as well."

After Harry and Ginny put the kids to bed the three sat down at the breakfast table. Teddy took a breath and told them what happened the night Victoire came over after breaking up with Isaac and the time that followed after. There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence after he finished and Ginny finally looked at Harry with a raised eyebrow and said, "I hope you realize you're the reason he's shite at this."

Harry looked offended and said, "What do you mean me? It could be you."

"No I was far better at emotions and relationships Mr. Bottle-my-emotions-so-I-can-brood," she said looking at Teddy, shaking her head, and chuckling.

Teddy looked unamused. "Well, I'm so glad you can laugh at this."

"I'm sorry! It's just a huge misunderstanding. Obviously she broke up with her boyfriend so that she could see if you wanted to try a relationship and she meant that all of her boyfriends have been the rebounds because she fancied you the whole time," she said with a smile and a shrug.

"That's obvious? HOW is that obvious?" Teddy said and Harry merely shrugged.

"It's only because Ginny did that, too," Harry said with a smirk.

"Don't get a big head, sir," Ginny responded with her own smirk.

"Fine. So I'm a blind idiot who yelled at a girl I wanted to date when she told me she wanted to date me. So what do I do now? She won't respond to my owls and wouldn't talk to me tonight and now she's even _more _upset and going to Hogwarts tomorrow," Teddy said, sounding exasperated.

Ginny smiled and said, "Well, you show up at the platform, obviously. Tell her how you feel before she gets on the train. It will be romantic and might just work."

"You think?" he said, looking between the two of them.

"She can't run away or make a scene as easily. It'll be packed. She might just jump on the train, but if she does you could still write her," Harry offered.

"Yeah, but it's not exactly something you send in an owl. That's why I hadn't sent it yet. I want to tell her in person," he said. "The problem is, I'll have training."

Harry nodded and said, "Well, take your lunch break early. I'm sure I could get you permission-"

"No, I can't take help from you in there. It'll look bad for both of us, Harry," Teddy said, firmly shaking his head.

Harry smiled and said, "Fine, take the early lunch break."

Teddy nodded and Ginny smiled. "You need sleep. Why don't you go home and then owl us tomorrow and tell us how it went."

Teddy nodded again, thanked them, and went home. However, he couldn't sleep. He couldn't help but try and plan everything he would say the next day. He just hoped she would listen to him.

_Author's Note: "The Nicest Thing" is by Kate Nash_


	8. A 'Hello' Snog and a 'Goodbye' Snog

Fleur followed Victoire into her room even though Victoire protested.

"Is sometheeng going on between you and Teddy? And why did you not tell me?" Fleur said, hands on her hips.

"That's just it maman. _Nothing_ is going on. Look, it's just a stupid crush. I'm going back to school tomorrow, I'll be fine. No big deal," she said as she pulled out her pajamas. She then crossed her arms, signaling that she wanted to change. Fleur turned around with a roll of her eyes. She had changed Victoire's diapers for Merlin's sake, and her bikinis showed more than her bras and underwear.

"Zat looked like more theen a crush," Fleur said, unconvinced.

"You can turn around," Victoire said as she flopped onto her bed. "Really, mum, it will be fine. It's not a big deal."

Fleur sighed and walked back to the door. "If you say so. But whatever 'appeened… you should let him talk. He looked upset, too. Good night, cheri."

Victoire crawled under her covers and stared at the wall. That night she dreamed that when she went over to Teddy's and told him she wanted to be with him he had confessed that he wanted to be with her, too, and the night was completely different from reality.

"Who are you looking for, Tor?" Natalie said with a smirk.

"What makes you think I'm looking for someone in particular. I'm just… taking in everything," Victoire said with a shrug.

It was nearly eleven and ever since Dominique had whispered "Maybe he'll show up at the platform! Oooh, it would be so romantic!" before squeeling and running off to her friends, Victoire had been glancing around the platform. It was idiotic really. Even if he did have feelings for her she had acted completely mental and refused to talk to him. Why would he bother showing up for one last chance?

"Oh, stop feeling sorry for yourself," Ashleigh said in an annoyed tone. "Neither of you were understanding and you both buggered it all up. If he comes, that's great, but it's nothing to expect. Just wait to see if he owls you."

"I wasn't looking for _him,_" Victoire said coolly.

"Right, and I'm not looking for Brandon," Ashleigh said with a smirk. Then Ashleigh spotted Brandon, raised her eyebrow, and said, "So are we going to the usual compartment? I think I'm going to go get some help for my bags."

Emma suddenly giggled and the girls looked over to see Charlotte snogging her boyfriend a few feet away. Victoire laughed and said, "Merlin, can't you wait for a broom closet at Hogwarts like everyone else?"

Charlotte pulled away, looking a little embarrassed, and said, "Oh, shut up, you're just jealous. Besides we haven't seen each other in two whole weeks." She turned back to Thomas with a pouty face and he chuckled before leaning in and kissing her again.

Natalie laughed and said, "Oh dear, two whole weeks, girls! What an eternity! See you in the train, Char."

Victoire smiled and it was bittersweet. Charlotte had been joking, but she was right. She wanted nothing more than a hello snog at the platform right now or, in her case, a goodbye snog. She glanced around again and didn't see any bright colored hair anywhere.

"Come on, Tor, we're going to be late. Char! Don't miss the train because you're snogging!" Emma said as she brought her own things into the train.

"Coming!" she squeeled as Thomas helped her with her things into the train.

Victoire sighed and took one more glance as the train whistled. "Fine!" she said back to the train. She quickly brought her things into the train, waving at her Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry who were waving at James through the window, and quickly made her way to the compartment.

As she sat down Natalie smirked and said, "What was the hold up? Did you run into a certain-"

"Nope," Victoire said in a cheery tone, hoping they would drop it. "Wait, Ash's stuff is in here…. But where is she?"

A few moments later Ashleigh walked in, looking extremely pleased with herself. "Guess who has a date with the _hottest_ boy in school on Friday?" she said as she sat down.

"Me?" Charlotte said with a smirk.

"Ah, honey, Tom is cute and all but he's no Brandon Chambers," she said and with that the girls broke into a flurry of questions about what happened and what he said and what they were going to do. Between talking about Brandon and Thomas, there were enough distractions to keep Teddy out of Victoire's head for a little while.

Meanwhile, back at the train station, Lily was crying and Albus was telling her it was all right.

"Look, I'm still here. And I'm your favorite brother anyway, right Lils?" Al said with a smile.

"But you'll be gone next year, too, and I'll be all by myself!" Lily cried.

"Hey! What about me and mum?" Harry said in a mock-hurt tone.

"It's not the same!" Lily cried.

Ginny chuckled and picked Lily up. "It will be all right. The same happened to me. You'll live. Come on, let's go."

As they walked back to the passageway Harry asked, "So it looked like Teddy didn't come."

"I'm sure he has his reasons. I don't know what they would be considering how upset he's been but, there's got to be something," she said, patting Lily's back.

"Maybe Grant didn't let him have the early lunch break. I don't see why he wouldn't…. I knew I should have just made a request," Harry said, kicking himself a little.

"No, Harry, Ted's right. He's basically like your son and it would show favoritism and make things harder for Teddy. He'll just have to write her now," she said with a sigh. When they passed through to the Muggle side of King's Cross, they were surprised to see Teddy sitting on a bench right next to the portal.

Ginny nodded towards Teddy and said, "All right Al, come with mum. We'll go ahead and get in the car."

"But I want to talk to Teddy!" he said as he made his way over there.

Ginny quickly grabbed Al's hand and said, "He'll be over for dinner this week, you can talk to him then. Daddy needs to talk to him right now, ok? Let's go."

Harry sat down next to Teddy and neither addressed the other at first. Finally, Harry awkwardly said, "So, erm, couldn't get the courage? No big deal. There were plenty of times I wanted to say something-"

"No," Teddy interrupted. "I just didn't make it in time. We were running late today, I left as soon as early lunch was released but when I got here it was just after eleven. It was already closed."

Harry leaned back and let out a deep breath. "Ah, I'm sorry, Ted."

"Well, that wasn't the worse part. I was kind uh… angry. So I sort of, might have, hit the wall a few times while people kept walking by," Teddy said, still looking off in front of him.

Harry paused and said, "You hit the wall a few times? With what… your hands?"

"Yeah… just say… ten or so times. And I might have yelled 'no' and 'let me through' a few times, too," Teddy said.

Harry laughed and Teddy finally looked at him and said, "I'm glad that I keep amusing you and Ginny."

Harry laughed more and said, "I'm sorry. I am just imagining what people thought as they walked by a boy with blue hair beating on a brick wall at the train station."

"Yeah, that guy over there," he pointed to one of the station workers, "told me I better sit down and calm down or else I was going to be escorted out of King's Cross and into a jail or loony bin. So… here I am."

Harry put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Well, it was about time you had your embarrassing moment here."

Teddy looked up at him, confused, and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, my first time here I asked one of the Muggles where platform 9 ¾ was and he thought I was completely mental. Then the next year me and Ron ran full speed into the wall and it was already closed up. They weren't too happy about that," Harry said with a smile and Teddy laughed.

"Argh, so what do I do now?" Teddy asked.

"You're just going to have to suck it up and owl her. Maybe she'll see you at the first Hogsmeade weekend. It should be early in October. That's only a little more than a month away, I'm sure you can make it," he said with a smirk.

Teddy nodded and rubbed his face. "I've got the worst luck."

Harry shook his head and said, "No buggering up with a girl isn't the worst luck. _Trust_ me. Now come on. You can get lunch with us before we have to get back to work."

Teddy stood up with Harry and said, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I guess being hunted by one of the most evil wizards ever is a little worse."

"Yeah, that _plus_ buggering things up with a girl. Not fun," Harry said with a smile as he put a hand on Teddy's shoulder and led him out of King's Cross.

"So you're saying the girl part is still pretty bad," Teddy said, his joking nature coming back.

Harry laughed and said, "Yeah, it's pretty bad."


	9. The Letter Writing Campaign

Two days later the girls were sitting at breakfast talking about their new classes.

"Ugh, can NEWTs be OVER already?" Emma whined as she cut her pancakes.

"Em, we've only been here for two days," Natalie said as she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but I can already tell the next two years are going to be awful!" Emma said.

Victoire wasn't paying attention because she was quickly tearing open a letter in Teddy's messy handwriting.

_Victoire,_

_I'm sorry again about that night at my flat. I don't what else I can say but that I'm sorry I assumed you just wanted to use me. I know you're better than that. I'm also sorry for whatever I did at your grandparents that made you leave without talking to me. But you've been a stubborn prat, too, and you know it. (_Victoire smirked) _I just want to talk to you. I think we can figure this out._

_The reason I got so upset was that I didn't want to be a rebound that you could never have real feelings for because I was just some transition boyfriend. I care about you too much for it to be that way. So please, write back. I miss you. I even tried to see you before the train left a couple of days ago but the platform was closed by the time I could get out of training._

_Please, just talk to me, Tor. If you're feelings have changed, then that's fine. I'll understand. I don't want to lose my best friend, too, ok?_

_Teddy_

Victoire smiled and Ashleigh noticed and said, "What?"

Victoire handed over the letter and happily went back to her oatmeal and fruit.

"'You've been a stubborn prat, too'? Wow, he certainly knows how to charm a girl," Ashleigh said with a raised eyebrow as she continued to read it. "Well, I told you he fancied you! It's not a real surprise."

Victoire rolled her eyes and said, "Thanks, Ash. You're such a doll."

Natalie and Emma quickly took turns reading the letter as Victoire smiled through breakfast. And then later on she smiled through her lessons. As soon as she was done with class she hurried back to her dormitory to think of what to say back.

_Teddy,_

_Usually when a guy apologizes to me he doesn't call me a name in the process, but I suppose I can accept your apology since we're such old friends. I'm glad you no longer think I'm some tart who would use her best friend. I'm interested in hearing how you think we can work these things out. The first Hogsmeade trip is October 8__th__, maybe we can figure it out then._

_In the meantime, keep letting me know how training is going since it's one of the reasons I saw you a grand total of five times summer. Give my love to Colin, as always, (kidding of course), and don't worry, you haven't lost your best friend (yet!). _

_Victoire_

She looked down at it and was satisfied. It had enough sarcasm in it that it didn't show just _how_ happy she was that it sounded like he had feelings for her after all and it would let him know they could go back to how they were, for the time being. She just hoped he wanted to see her in Hogsmeade.

The next night Teddy came home in a poor mood again. Chris, on the other hand, had a smug look on his face. "What are you so happy about?" Teddy asked as he began rummaging through his pantry to find something for dinner. When he came out of the pantry Chris was standing with a letter in his hand.

"She's talking now," Chris said with a smile. "Would you want this…"

"Give it to me," Teddy said as he snatched the letter out of Chris's hands.

"Wow, that Auror thing is really helping your reflexes…" Chris said with a laugh as he took the sandwich Teddy made and walked off with it.

Teddy couldn't believe she wrote back. Not only did she write back but she forgave him and was joking around. Now he had to figure out what to say.

"Ah, bullocks," he said as he noticed Chris had taken his sandwich. Teddy remade his dinner and then went to business.

_Tor, _

_I'm glad you haven't lost your humor in the THREE months since the last time I heard you crack a joke. Since the 8__th__ is on a Saturday, I could probably make it to Hogsmeade. I'll let you know. L__ook forward to seeing you._

_If by giving your love to Matthews you mean me giving him a special hex during sparring practice, then I'll be sure to give him a lot of love from you. Training is too boring for me to tell you about. Are you already hating NEWTs?_

_Teddy_

Victoire smiled at breakfast as she read the later. Ashleigh rolled her eyes and said, "I really hope this will not be a regular occurrence. It's just a letter! It's not even juicy."

"It's enough," Victoire said with a smile as she folded the letter and went back to her breakfast. It did become a regular occurrence. When Teddy wasn't busy, she would usually get a letter every other day. When he was swamped with training sometimes it took a few days more. Either way she at least got one or two letters from him each week. She joked about how now that he was gone, Ravenclaw for sure was going to win the Quidditch Cup and maybe even the house cup. He told stories about training and Chris's latest debacles and she told him about funny things at Hogwarts. She was glad that their friendship was repaired, and she was becoming even surer that he had feelings for her too. They even got back to talking about deeper things, like their families and future. He worried about whether or not he would be able to handle all three years of Auror training, and she assured him he would pass with flying colors.

Soon enough, it was the morning of the Hogsmeade trip. Victoire was nervous and anxious and excited all at the same time.

"Merlin's beard, you MUST stop playing with your hair. It's fine. Let it alone!" Ashleigh suddenly said. Victoire hadn't even realized she was doing it and she quickly stopped, apologized, and smiled as she played with her oatmeal.

"Great, now Em and I are going to be the only ones without boyfriends. A majority of us will be taken! Just great…" Natalie huffed.

"Yeah, but you both have dates! It's not like you two are going to Hogsmeade alone…" Charlotte said as she tried to make Natalie feel better.

"It's not the same!" Natalie exclaimed.

"Well, if I have anything to say in the matter, it will be for me by the end of the Hogsmeade trip," Emma said with a giggle.

"Great, then I'll be the only one without a boyfriend," Natalie said.

"Oh please, as if you did not fancy Stephen. Just admit it and go out with him and save us all from this, please?" Ashleigh said with a sigh. She then gave a small wave to Brandon, who was sitting at the Slytherin table. They had been dating since the first week of school.

"Besides, you don't know if Teddy and I…" but Victoire stopped when she saw the looks she was getting from all five girls. "Right," she said as she went back to daydreaming and playing with her oatmeal.

"I do _not _fancy Stephen," Natalie said, crossing her arms.

"Whatever you say… we better go so we can freshen up before we go to Hogsmeade," Ashleigh said, getting up from the table.

Twenty minutes later, Natalie had to practically push Victoire out of the dormitory so that she would stop trying to fix her hair or tug on her dress. Once she was in Hogsmeade, she was incredibly nervous. She was supposed to meet Teddy at Honeyduke's and if he was already there she would see him any moment.

"Are you okay there, Weasley?" a familiar voice said, and it made her jump.

"Oh, hey, Isaac. How are you?" she said, smoothing out her dress. This could get uncomfortable.

"I'm all right, better than you it seems. Why are you all twitchy?" he asked.

"I'm um, just meeting someone," she said and right then she saw him. He was so adorable. He was leaning against the front wall of Honeyduke's in a grey sweater, jeans, and tennis shoes. His hair was in turquoise spikes and his eyes were their normal brown. She couldn't help but small widely when she saw him look at her and give a small smile. Then it looked like he noticed Isaac.

"Oh…. I see. Well, bye then," Isaac said as he walked away from her. She felt bad that their friendship was definitely different now, but she didn't have time to worry over that.

Teddy's smile grew as Isaac left and she walked closer to him. She was gorgeous, as always. Her hair was down and she was wearing this dark blue sweater dress that hugged at her and made her look… amazing.

"Hey," she said first when she reached him.

"Hey yourself," he said with a smile. "You uh… you look good."

She nodded and said, "Thank you, you do too." It was a little weird. They were suddenly in this in between stage where they didn't know how to act. They had been friends for so long.

"So um… you want to get some sweets?" he asked as he opened the door for her.

"Oh, sure, yeah," she said as she walked in.

In a matter of minutes everything seemed back to normal. She laughed at him when he grabbed a few different types of chocolate candies and she instead went for her usual sugar quills and ice mice. He tried to tempt her with some cockroach clusters as a joke and soon he was updating her on what was going on with training and she was telling him about the past few days at Hogwarts. He paid for her candy even though she protested and they made their way outside.

"So," he said more timidly than he would have wanted, "We should probably… talk now, or soon."

She nodded and said, "Now's good. Um, where do you want to go?"

"Uh…" he said as he looked around Hogsmeade. He forgot how crowded it got, and he couldn't think of anywhere that they could talk just the two of them. "I guess our only options for privacy are Hog's Head and The Shrieking Shack."

She shifted a bit uncomfortably and he could tell she wasn't crazy about either of those places. He was about to just offer that they try to find somewhere quiet by the Three Broomsticks when she said, "Hog's Head is still a bit… dodgy. The Shrieking Shack is the only place where we'll get complete privacy."

Teddy nodded, took her hand, and led her to The Shack. He hadn't even realized he took her hand until half way through, but he didn't want to let go of it now. He definitely didn't know Victoire grinned when he did it.

As they stepped in The Shack, Victoire looked tentatively around. She hadn't been there since fourth year. It was the last time she and Teddy had had a fight so big that they didn't talk for weeks.

"_Victoire! Will you just bloody talk to me!" Teddy said when he walked over to her table. _

_"Excuse me, Ted. Do you not see I have a _date?_ Could you please bother me at some other time?" she said angrily before giving Will an apologetic look._

_"No! It can't wait! And I would have explained earlier if you weren't such a stubborn twit!" he said with just as much anger._

_She glared at him and said, "Excuse me for just a second, Will, while I sort this out."_

_Will looked like he would have given Teddy a dirty look, but he was probably too afraid of the sixth year in his own house._

_"What?" she seethed, once they made it outside and over to the side of the Three Broomsticks, away from people._

_"What the hell is your problem?" he asked._

_"My problem? What is YOURS? You think you're the only one who's different, and you think no one else can understand. Well that's just a load of shit. So you can change the way you look and people thinks it's cool. It doesn't make you any better than anyone else and it doesn't mean no one understands how 'unique' you are," she said, her voice rising._

_"No, no one else gets it. I'm allowed to think that. No one else has to worry about their looks changing when they feel a certain way or get angry. Except for maybe you… and you can't just judge me or think you get me just because you've known me forever. You'll never know what it's like. You've got both your parents and siblings! And you don't have to hear people wonder if you're some freak or you're going to attack them because your dad was a werewolf and your mum was a metamorphagus!" he yelled. _

_"Really? Really? I have NO idea what it's like for people to judge you based on what your parents are? My dad was attacked by the same werewolf that attacked your dad, Teddy. He has the scars and people talk and wonder how much it affected him. People also judge me to be some easy… tarty… cocktease because I'm part veelan! I'm only 1/8__th__… I don't even really have the charm but it doesn't matter. It doesn't stop from people calling me a hybrid behind my back or making rude remarks when they think I can't here them. So don't act like you're the only one with problems Teddy. Do us all a favor and stop feeling sorry for yourself. I'm sorry your parents are gone but Harry and Ginny practically are your parents and you damn well know that James, Al, and Lily see you as their brother. I might not know what it's like to be an orphan or exactly what it's like for my dad to be a werewolf but I know what it's like when my mom has to make meals with more meat around the full moon or how he takes Wolfsbane to keep him calmer, just in case, and I know what it's like to catch my dad staring at his scars when he thinks no one's looking. So just… just stop feeling sorry for yourself and thinking you're _SO _mistaken. All right? It's a tired act!" she yelled, and people walking by were now staring. "What are you looking at?" she yelled back at them and they quickly went about their business._

_Teddy was staring at her dumbfounded. For the past few weeks he had been sulking after someone had made some rude remarks about his parents and joked around that he was this half-breed that wasn't even human. He had completely shunned Victoire, not really talking to anyone, citing that they just wouldn't understand. "Come with me," he said, and he grabbed her wrist and began leading her to the back of Hogsmeade. The whole way she protested. First she smacked him on the arm and yelled about how her date would be waiting in the Three Broomsticks. Then she threatened to hex him. Finally she resigned to being dragged against her will and just gave him the dirtiest look she could muster. _

_They stopped at The Shrieking Shack and it confused her. "Teddy why are we…"but he shook his head and led her inside the house. She felt weird being in there. Wasn't it haunted? She wouldn't be surprised. The place was a mess. There were cobwebs everywhere and all the furniture was demolished. There were slashes in the walls and the floors and just… everywhere. She didn't want to be there anymore but as angry as she was at Teddy, she had to trust him._

_"Harry told me about this place before third year. He wanted me to know before I went to Hogsmeade. I don't know if he was afraid I would hear the rumors, which is stupid because everyone still just thinks it's haunted, or if it was because he learned in his third year but… this is where my dad went every full moon while he was at Hogwarts," he said solemnly. Victoire gasped and it made sense suddenly. "Albus Dumbledore had it built so my dad could go here. There's a pathway that leads to Hogwarts underneath." He walked over and sat down on the couch. "He um, he couldn't have the potion when he was at Hogwarts. There wasn't anyone skilled enough to make it that Dumbledore trusted so… he just changed in here so he couldn't hurt anyone." Victoire ran her hand against a slash mark on the wall. "He… he did all of this. Harry's dad and godfather learned to be animagi so they could be animals when my dad changed and not get the curse so that he wouldn't be lonely. But still…this… this is my dad. This is what he was. He did this. That's why people would be afraid of me." _

_Victoire looked back at Teddy and quietly sat next to him. "This wasn't him, Teddy. And it's not you. You said he got bitten as a kid. He couldn't help it. It was a few nights a month and it was something he had no control of. All my Aunts and Uncles who had him as a professor said he was their favorite. Gram says he was just… the nicest man, really. He helped and taught and protected Uncle Harry. Just because he had to come here at school doesn't mean he wasn't a really good man." She looked around the room again and had a chill. "It makes him a better man, when you think about it. He was so concerned about hurting others that he kept himself away._

_Teddy looked at Victoire and said, "Yeah?"_

_Victoire nodded and gave him a hug. "Yeah. I'm sorry I got so mad at you. I know… I know it's hard. I shouldn't have…"_

_Teddy shook his head and said, "Don't apologize. I was being a self-pitying arse. You know me better than anyone else. I was being an arse to you and Chris and Sam and it was stupid."_

_Victoire nodded and rested her head against his shoulder. "Do you come here every Hogsmeade?"_

_He shook his head. "No. It's always bothered me, actually. One of the few things that I can see of my dad is a shack that's destroyed because of him."_

_Victoire nodded and said, "They were both heroes, Teddy. Just like Uncle Harry's parents, and my Uncle Fred and well, a lot of people."_

_Teddy nodded and said, "I know. I know."_

_They sat there for another hour, sometimes talking and sometimes just sitting in silence as they looked at the wreckage._

It didn't look any different two years later. She felt slightly uncomfortable, but it wasn't as bad as if she was in dodgy Hog's Head with people staring at them. Teddy led her over to the couch so that they could sit. He took a deep breath and said, "Well, like I said, I'm sorry about that night. I overreacted, too."

She nodded and said, "Me too. I shouldn't have given you the cold shoulder."

"Right. It's just….ok, I'm going to say it. I've fancied you for a little while and being your rebound consolation prize just would not have worked for me," he said and he gave her a searching look.

She smiled and said, "It wouldn't have worked for me either because it's the same with me."

He smiled and leaned in closer. "Yeah?"

She nodded and said, "Yeah, it should be pretty obvious by how I went mental with a couple of those songs…"

"Hey, those were subtext. Not obvious," he said with a smirk.

She smiled and looked a bit timid. "So, what do we do then?"

He leaned in closer and played with a single loose curl. "Well, now that we've got it settled…"

And then he was kissing her, and she was kissing him back. One of his hands went into her hair and the other to her waist and both of her arms wrapped around his neck. He felt an odd sort of tingle at his lips that quickly spread across his body and made him warm. Now, he had snogged more than a few girls and had all of the normal physical reactions, but this was just… different. She shifted how she was sitting so that she could be closer and he slowly leaned her so that she was laying back against the couch and he could lay over her and kiss her easier. She didn't protest, so he continued to kiss her. The warm feeling made him decide to let his hands roam, and one went to her bare knee as his kisses moved to her neck. His hand slid up her thigh and just under the hem of her dress.

She couldn't believe that after all this time, this was actually happening. She arched into him as he kissed her neck, and when she felt his hand slide up under her skirt she gripped the couch and her hand slid across a slash in the material. "Teddy…we can't…" she suddenly said as she squirmed.

Teddy quickly pulled his hand away and said, "Oh, shit, Tor. I'm sorry, I went too fast. I…"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "It's not that. That was actually… fine," she said as she blushed. "It's just… in here, it feels kind of.. weird, don't you think? Considering its history?"

Teddy looked around and laughed at the situation. "What, you think it's weird for me to snog my girlfriend in the same place where my dad used to turn into a werewolf?" he said with a charming smile.

Victoire didn't laugh at the joke. Instead, she smiled and said, "So I'm your girlfriend."

"Well… I hope so. If you want to be," he said, still smiling at her.

"I do," she practically whispered as she leaned in and kissed him. Soon they were snogging again and Victoire had to pull away and say, "Teddy, we can't here."

Teddy nodded and said "Right… right" as he got off of her and helped her up. When they stood up he noticed for the first time that her skin was shimmering a little. "Uh, Victoire, are you… glowing?" he asked.

Victoire looked down at her hand and blushed. "Um, yeah. You know how my mum sort of shimmers? Well, this can happen sometimes when I…"

"Snog?" Teddy asked with a smirk.

She nervously laughed and said, "Right. Part of the whole seduction aspect of Veelas, I guess."

"Well… it's working," he said as he leaned in and kissed her. Victoire smiled into the kiss and he pulled away, took her by the hand, and said, "All right, I guess we better have a real date then."

They spent the rest of the day looking at the shops and eating at the Three Broomsticks, but they made time to occasionally snog by the side of a shop or at their table when they thought people might be looking. They bravely went in Weasley's Wizardly Wheezes hand in hand, and as a result were greatly teased by her Uncle George.

"Well, I suppose I'll have to rush back and tell my mum and dad before my Uncle George does," she said as they left the shop and headed back to the entrance to Hogwarts grounds. "Ugh, I can't believe I have to go back already. It's not fair that you are two years older."

"Don't make me out to be a cradle robber, please," he said with a smirk as he leaned in and kissed her. He didn't think he would get used to that. "It's just another month or so before the next one."

She nodded and said, "I guess you're right. And then another month before Christmas break."

"Right. And we'll write between then," he said as they reached the end.

"I supposed if I have to…" she said with a mock-annoyed look.

"You do," he said before leaning in to give her a final kiss.

She smiled as he pulled away. She looked at him for a moment and said, "I like you hair. I guess I just like blue."

He smiled and nodded towards her dress, "Yeah, me too."

She quickly gave him a chaste kiss before one of the girls grabbed her arm and led her back to Hogwarts grounds. She didn't know which one it was, and she didn't really care. She kept looking back as Teddy stayed outside the entrance, hands in his pockets, watching her leave. When she finally had to strain to see him she looked back towards Hogwarts. If NEWTs weren't enough, the next two years were going to be even more torture now.


	10. An Enlightening Duel

The next few weeks flew by. They usually received owls from each other every other day. Victoire had told her parents and they were mostly supportive. Her mother was over the moon about it, but her father was more hesitant. Fleur had told him the night before Victoire went to school that Victoire had a crush on Teddy and that's why she had been acting so upset, and he automatically went into protective father mode and began having a skewed version of Teddy. So, when Fleur read Victoire's letter and seemed happy about the new couple, Bill was less than pleased. Teddy was two years older and had obviously done something to upset her before. He was going into a dangerous job. He was no longer the Teddy Lupin Bill watched grow up or had invited over for play dates with Victoire and Dominique, he was Bill's eldest daughter's boyfriend that she obviously cared about enough to start crying at her grandmother's house, and Bill did not like that. However, Fleur seemed happy and with the couple not both going to Hogwarts now he didn't see a huge danger in their relationship yet, so he decided to wait before showing more disapproval. The most he did was remind her to be careful when dating older boys.

Teddy had been cheery the weeks since. He had told Harry and Ginny at breakfast the next day. Ginny had smirked and said it was about time to which Harry said that sometimes good things come with time to which Ginny said that sometimes the good things could come earlier if people got their heads out of their arses sooner, and by then Teddy was rolling his eyes, not paying attention, and letting them banter and flirt. The latter still disturbed him a little since they were practically like his own parents. Lily had giggled at the news and asked if they were going to get married. Teddy nervously laughed it off and said it was way too early to think of that, and Al stuck out his tongue and made his 'gross' face.

Teddy was in a sparring session the week before the Hogsmeade visit when his cheery honeymoon period began to fade.

"Lupin and… Matthews," Grant said as he stepped aside and the two stood up to duel. Teddy hated having to do anything with Colin. Victoire had repeatedly told him to just forget the past so it wouldn't distract him, but he couldn't. The rivalry was more than just Victoire. Of course, that didn't mean Colin was not going to talk about her.

"So, Lupin, I hear you're dating my sloppy seconds. Or, I guess it would be thirds by the time it got to you. She dated someone else between us, didn't she?" Colin said with a smirk as he got in the starting pose. Grant, their trainer, usually allowed the sparrers to talk during the fights since he said opponents in the real world usually would try to anger or distract them by saying things to get to their emotions.

Teddy just smirked and said, "I'm not going to talk to you about her, Matthews. But thanks for asking. Oh, wait, so let me ask something, too. How do your balls feel after she kneed you? Ouch, hope you're still technically a man."

"Begin," Grant said in a bored voice.

"Expelliarmus!" Teddy yelled as Colin yelled "Protego!"

Colin laughed and said, "I know you idolize Potter and all but everyone knows he just got lucky with expelliarmus all those years. Come on, I know you had to learn something better than that after _second year_. And I know you probably want to make sure all of my junk is working, and it is, but sorry, Lupin. I don't date guys. I'll be sure to owl your girl to make sure she knows you were wondering. Of course, she probably won't care. She hasn't seemed to have standards recently…"

Teddy could feel himself getting angrier. Colin had just managed to insult Harry, Victoire, and himself. He was really close to saying that maybe she had low standards when she was dating Colin, but that would open a Pandora's Box that definitely did not need to be opened.

He just had to stick to the hexes and not give Colin an in. And so it began. He began throwing hex after hex as Colin threw hexes back. It became a shouting match of hexes and protegos, and for a while neither of them was hit. Finally, Teddy got Colin with a jelly-legs jinx. It made Colin angrier and he yelled, "Protego! Have fun with your little cocktease girlfriend! Protego!"

Teddy's hair and eyes turned black and he sent a slashing hex to Colin's arm. "Shut up!" he yelled once the hex hit Colin. Colin fired back with a burning hex to Teddy's shoulder.

"Lupin! Matthews! You want to try to arrest them before firing injuring hexes!" Grant yelled.

"Yes, sir," they both replied.

"Unless you haven't even kissed her yet then you already know, Lupin. Don't act like it's not true!" Colin yelled as he sent a jinx that Teddy repelled.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Teddy yelled back as the two began circling each other.

"It feels weird when she kisses you, doesn't it? She makes you want more… and you can't control it. She uses those damn Veelan charms to make you want more and more and then she throws on the brakes. She knows what she's doing, she's just a tease," Colin said.

Teddy was momentarily dumbfounded. It had felt different when she kissed him and even though he had always imagined taking it slow with her, within moments he was trying to get his hand up her skirt. She was shimmering, too. But if it had to do with the part Veela, she had always told him she couldn't control her Veelan charms. What she had left of them were innate and natural and completely beyond her control. She had even said that the shimmering happened sometimes when she kissed guys. So there _was_ something that made him want more even though he told himself to slow down. She couldn't control it, though.

Colin took Teddy's pause to send a jinx that blasted Teddy backwards and he landed on his back. He lifted up in time to send a protego to the next hex.

He got up and said, "Whatever it is, she can't help. She can't control her Veelan nature. She barely has any of it left."

Colin laughed and said, "Sure, Lupin. You keep thinking that. And then when she's having you want to beg for it and suddenly becomes a total ice princess you can tell me-"

"Petrificus totalus!" Teddy bellowed and Colin fell to the floor. Teddy sent a rope binding spell to keep him in that state and then went back to his seat. He didn't respond to the "good job"s or the claps on the back. Instead he brooded. His eyes went back to brown, but his hair was jet black for the rest of the day.


	11. Family Teasing

_Author's Note: I've fixed some of the hijinx that occurred in earlier chapters when I transported the story from Word to FF! Also, thanks for the reviews so far and definitely feel free to leave more! I like seeing what you all think, especially since I'm still in the process of writing this fic. Yes, a lot of the teenage drama from a few of those summer chapters is luckily over... but that doesn't mean it's automatically going to be all easy, hee hee._

Victoire sighed as she lay in the grass. "There is absolutely _nothing_ at Hogsmeade to get for maman. Nothing."

"And there's something to get for dad other than candy?" Nicki said with a crooked brow.

"Dad always like's Uncle George's stuff," Louis said with a shrug before turning to his cousin, James. "Look, I'm sure you'll be on the team next year. You'll at least be a reserve, like me. I mean your dad's the best seeker we've ever had and your mum played for the Harpies."

James had been prodding at Louis for information on whether or not the team would take on more players next year. There were already a few of Weasleys on the team. Fred was a beater, Roxanne was a chaser, and Louis was a chaser. James was pretty sure he, Al, Lily, Rose, and maybe even Hugo would try for a place on the team. There's no way there could be all Weasleys and Potters on the Quidditch team.

A chaser and a beater were both graduating this year, and James was good at both. At first he secretly wanted to be a chaser, even though he liked playing beater more. After all, his mum and granddad had both been chasers. However, after his dad told him that Puddlemere's Oliver Wood had told him he would have been a fair beater and years of his parents noting he was so much like his Uncles Fred and George, he was warming back up to the position again. Besides, his cousin Fred was already a beater for Gryffindor, which would make it more fun.

"You're right. Al and Lily are the ones that are going to have a worse chance," he said with a smirk.

Victoire made a mock-surprised face and said, "James! You could not be happy about Al and Lily having a harder time of getting on the team!"

James feigned an innocent look and said, "No, I'm just glad I got here first."

Victoire smirked and said, "Right."

Al and Lily looked like exact replicas of their parents. James had a mixture of the two. He had dark auburn hair with the Weasley freckles. He might have had his dad's almond eyes, but they were hazel and not green. While people always said how much Al and Lily were like their parents in the way they acted, too, he didn't get the same comments. Sometimes they would say he was as stubborn as his mom or as curious and able to get into trouble as his dad, but mostly it was just that he was as mischievous as his granddad and uncles. He even thought Al and Lily would probably resume their parents' positions on the Quidditch pitch. Lily was too young to really tell, but she seemed to like Chaser and Keeper. Al enjoyed observing it more than constantly flying back and forth between goals. He was more reserved than James and Lily, and he did a good job of tuning out the rest of the game and focusing on the Snitch. Al tried to play Keeper a good bit, though. James thought Al might just worry about ending up a Seeker when he already is compared so much to their dad.

Louis smiled and said, "He's right, though, Rose, too."

Victoire rolled her eyes and said, "You're assuming that Al, Lily, and Rose will all end up Gryffindor."

"That's because you're the only weirdo to _not_ go Gryffindor," Nicki said, smirking.

Victoire looked offended. "Molly and Lucy are _both_ Ravenclaws!"

"Yeah, and Aunt Audrey was a Ravenclaw and Uncle George says Uncle Percy was as good as one! Come on, Victoire, it's the Weasley tradition to be a Gryffindor," Nicki said, enjoying that she was aggravating Victoire.

"Yeah, well he said Aunt Hermione practically could have been a Ravenclaw, too!" Victoire noted.

James shook her head and said, "Nope, she had too many adventures with my dad. All Gryffindor."

There were very few times that being a Ravenclaw instead of a Gryffindor irked her. The first time was immediately after she was sorted. She thought she must have done something wrong. She walked to her house's table, feigning a smile and sitting right next to Natalie for the first time, but she did glance sadly over to the Gryffindor table and her only friend at Hogwarts. The next time wasn't until Louis was sorted into Gryffindor. She looked over as Teddy and Dominique welcomed Louis to the table, and she felt like she should have been there. For a brief moment she thought about how her siblings, dad, and boyfriend were all in Gryffindor. Whenever she felt the least bit sad about it, she would always remember her mother's letter after she told her parents she was in Ravenclaw and Teddy's comment at breakfast the first day of classes. Her mother said that she thought if she had gone to Hogwarts, she would have been a Ravenclaw. Teddy told her she had looked better in blue than red anyway.

Victoire tossed her hair and said, "Well, we always knew I was capable of starting trends. Why be boring and do the same old same old?" Before Dominique, Louis, or James could respond, Victoire quickly added, "We have completely gotten off topic. What the hell are we going to get maman and daddy for Christmas?"

Louis shrugged again and laidback in the grass. "You two can pick. It's not like I can be there when you buy it." Louis was only a second year.

Nicki rolled her eyes and said, "Thanks for the brilliant input, Lou." She turned to Victoire and said, "Why don't we decide there?"

Louis laughed and said, "Because she'll be busy with someone else." He then proceeded to make kissing noises. Victoire grew red and was very tempted to tackle him.

James laughed and said, "I can't believe you're kissing Teddy! I mean it's _Teddy._"

Nicki smirked and said, "Now, now, James. Just because you see him as a brother doesn't mean Victoire has to see him as a cousin. Oh wait, you don't, right? Because that would just be gross."

Victoire looked shocked and exclaimed, "What happened to you wanting me to date Teddy and being so nice to me about it?"

Nicki shrugged and said, "You're not sad anymore. I can freely tease you. Which reminds me, I've been meaning to ask him if he likes being a cradle robber."

Louis and James were both laughing now.

"Fine," Victoire said, throwing up her arms. "You can just pick out maman and dad's presents when you're at Hogsmeade and if I don't like it there will be just enough time before Christmas to do last minute shopping." She crossed her arms and glared, and Louis stopped laughing. She looked too much like their mum there.

"She's just teasing, Tor," he said. "Why don't we _all _just wait until we get home. Mum will probably want the excuse to take us shopping anyway."

Nicki was still trying to contain her smirk from earlier as she said, "Sounds good to me."

Victoire paused for a moment and said, "All right, it's settled."

James smirked and said, "I still can't believe you and Teddy are dating, though."

_Author's (additonal) note: Someone asked about James (I) playing Chaser at Hogwarts. While the movie said James was a seeker, JKR has said that James was in fact a Chaser so... I will go with JKR! Steve Kloves and the directors have changed details that aren't really a detriment to the story, but I'll go with what JKR has said in interviews instead. Thanks for the question!_


	12. A Hogsmeade Confession

Teddy waited in his usual spot at Honeyduke's for Victoire. He had decided to rent a room above Hog's Head so that he could just get up and get breakfast and be ready. Besides, Hog's Head was cheaper than the Three Broomsticks, and there was never a crowd. It could be dirtier and a little… dodgy, but Teddy had already performed a lot of scourgify charms on his room.

He practically beamed when he saw her. She was all bundled up in her coat, scarf, toboggan, and gloves. She gave off a very different meaning of the term "ice princess" as she walked towards him in the snow. He was caught off guard when she suddenly broken into a run and then jumped him to hug him around the neck and wrap her legs around his waist. He laughed, grabbed her legs to hold her up, and gave her a kiss. They were soon interrupted by a familiar voice that said, "Please, we're in public."

Victoire giggled and Teddy put her down. "Good to see you Ashleigh," he said with a cheeky grin.

Ashleigh only gave him a smirk before turning back to Brandon, looping her arm in his, and leaving Teddy and Victoire alone.

Victoire wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again. "Mmmm…. I missed you," she whispered.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, nuzzled into her neck, and nipped her ear before whispering, "I missed you, too." He was already beginning to feel the warm, tingly feeling flow through him. He pulled away and shook his head, trying to knock off the feeling.

Victoire giggled and said, "What's with today's hair?" It was shaggy and scarlet. Not scarlet as in natural red hair color, but the actual color scarlet.

He smirked and said, "Well, I knew you would be wearing that." He smacked at her Ravenclaw scarf and she smirked back.

"Well, I don't see any gold, and if I recall, you Gryffindors wear scarlet and gol-" but before she even finished her sentence, gold streaks appeared in his hair and his brown eyes were gold.

She rolled her eyes and said, "Fine, I guess I can be seen with a Gryffindor."

"You say that as if your whole family isn't Gryffindor," he said as he intertwined his fingers with hers and began walking with her down Hogsmeade. She gave him a 'don't get me started' look and he smiled and said, "All right. What do you want to do?"

She put a finger to her chin and said, "Well, we could do some Christmas shopping."

Teddy nodded and said, "Sounds good. I haven't had time to get anything yet. Isn't Diagon Alley better, though?"

Victoire shrugged and said, "Probably. I don't know if I'll have time when we get out for Christmas break, though. And I _hate _shopping last minute."

Teddy chuckled. It went along with her whole punctual nature. She never procrastinated.

Teddy enjoyed spending the day with her. It reminded him how much he missed her. When they were just friends they hung out way more than they had the chance now, and they hadn't had the added bonus of being able to snog. They walked, hand in hand, most of the day as she dragged him to shop after shop for Christmas shopping. They got in trouble at WWW for trying out the new fake wands that squirted different colored liquids on each other in the middle of store. Little did Victoire know that after they got cleaned up and left the store, hues of pink, blue, and green still faded in her hair, that George had snuck one of the wands to Teddy. After all, she had started it when his back was turned.

Their last shop stop was a bookstore that was one of the smallest stores in town and packed from floor to ceiling with books. The two parted ways as they went looking for books. Teddy had the impression that this stop was more for Victoire than it was for her Christmas shopping. He wouldn't complain though. He was a reader, and it was only fueled by the fact that people commented that his dad was, too. He hadn't read for pleasure in ages, though. He had zero time for it.

He found a book or two that seemed interesting before he decided to look for Victoire. It was a small store, so it shouldn't be hard, and it wasn't. He found her sitting on the ground with her gloves and toboggan on the ground with a pile of books. She was sitting cross-legged reading a book on Indonesia.

He smirked and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Got enough books there, Ravenclaw?"

She looked up, not noticing he had been standing there before, and chuckled. "I just… I want to go everywhere, Teddy. Every single place looks so interesting. I want to see it all."

He squatted, leaned in, and kissed her. "You're adorable." He then stoop up and gave her his hand. "Come on, before he makes you pay for all of those books."

She grabbed two that she just absolutely had to have before standing up and following him to the cashier. After she bundled herself back up she leaned against Teddy and said, "Shopping is tiring."

He smiled and said, "Want to drop this stuff off in my room and then we can get some dinner?"

"Yes, please!" she said as she tried to wrangle all of her bags, and Teddy swiftly grabbed a few of them and added them to his own so she wouldn't be carrying so many. She laughed and said, "I still can't believe you slept in _Hog's Head_ last night."

He smirked and said, "I scourgified it. Don't worry."

When they reached his room she dropped her bags before collapsing on his bed. "I'm exhausted!" she exclaimed as she feigned sleep.

He took the opportunity of her eyes closed to surprise her with a kiss.

If she was surprised, she didn't act like it. She kissed him back, her eyes remaining closed, as she pulled off his coat. He took that as his cue that he could do the same, and began pulling off her scarf, coat, and hat. He was already getting wrapped up in that warm feeling, but it started to feel more familiar. _I can handle this,_ he thought. _It's just about control._ His hands moved slow as he tried to keep himself in check.

To Victoire, he was going achingly slow. She broke the kiss so she could scoot back and he could join her on the bed. Bending like that had to be uncomfortable. He paused, staring at her, and she tried to search his face. "What?" she asked, almost in a whisper.

He smiled, shook his head, and said "Nothing" before climbing onto the bed to kiss her again.

She was half sure that she was going to wake up from a very nice dream at any moment. She had been optimistic that Teddy felt the same way about her, but she had been mostly sure that it would never happen. And yet here he was, kissing her neck with one hand in her hair and the other on her hip. She slid her hands just under the hem of his t-shirt and momentarily relished in this new feeling before tentatively sliding her hands up his back. She had never felt Teddy's back before, but she knew he had always been pretty lean. Now, though, she could tell the Auror training was becoming a factor. He was still mostly lean, but she could tell there were muscles that hadn't normally been there. Teddy paused, and Victoire was just about to ask what was wrong again when he resumed kissing her. The hand on her hip slid just under her sweater to her stomach. Still, he was moving achingly slow. She knew he was probably just worried about moving too fast for her, considering her past record with guys, and she smiled into the kiss.

As her hands moved to his chest and his hand slid up her rib cage, his hesitancy seemed to be faltering. He settled himself between her legs to get closer, and he began moving his kisses to her jawline and neck. She began tugging his shirt upward so she could get better access to his chest, and his hand in her hair moved to her leg and slid up to her bum. He squeezed her bum just as he kissed a particularly sensitive part of her neck and she let out a little moan. He pulled away then and sat up, catching his breath. She looked at him confused as she caught her breath as well and held herself up on her elbows.

"Teddy, what's wrong?" she asked.

"I just… I.." he said as he scrambled to find the words.

She smiled and sat up. "It's okay." He looked at her confused. "I know you're trying to make sure you don't move to promise and, you're okay. I promise. I'll tell you if I'm not ready for something. And honestly, I'll probably be more ready and open… with you. We don't have to do that whole getting to know you period. I know you. I trust you."

She became worried when he still looked conflicted. She put a hand on his cheek, noticing she was still shimmering, and said, "I trust you. I'm not worried."

He looked down and she dropped her hand. "It's just that um…" He looked just as conflicted as if he was debating on saying something.

"Teddy, it's okay. Just tell me," she said as she was becoming more and more worried.

"Well… when we snog. Or well, when you snog in general, do you feel really warm and… oddly happier than you would think?" he asked.

She laughed and said, "Well, yeah. Isn't that supposed to happen?"

Teddy broke a smile and looked down again. "Right. Well, actually, with you it's more than what's just supposed to happen."

Now she was really confused about what was going on. "What do you mean… more?"

"Well, I er, don't know if your ex-boyfriends ever told you but… when a guy kisses you it's like…" he paused, as if searching for the words, "It's more than just the normal reactions. You feel even happier and hazier. You just keep wanting more and more…"

"Oh Merlin," she said, and she scooted back… right into the headboard. She knew the effects that full Veelans had on men. Even her mother could still have that effect. They clouded men's minds, made them feel obsessed about that Veela. The men would want to be around them, want to just touch them. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

"It was all my fault. Oh _Merlin,_" she said as she quickly covered her face with her hands. She suddenly saw Will sliding his hand up her leg and under the skirt, her pushing him away and him asking what the problem was since he thought she was supposed to like that. Adam tugging at her knickers and getting mad when she pushed him away. Colin trying to lead them into a corner at the Yule Ball while she giggled and told him they couldn't in public. The worst was replaying John Graham pushing her against the stone wall in a corridor a little harder than she would have liked before suddenly letting his hands roam all over her.

"_John, stop. Anyone could walk by," she said as she tried to push him. _

"_I thought you would like the risk," he said with a bit of a laugh as his lips attached to her neck and one hand move to her leg as the other slid just under the hem of her shirt. _

"_Well, I don't. Come on, we can't here," she said as she again tried to push him off._

"_Come on. I thought you Veelas were supposed to like all of this," he said._

"_Stop it, John!" She couldn't get to her wand and she couldn't move her arms or legs enough to be able to hit or kick him. Her mind was racing and she thought she heard someone else's voice. Was someone coming? She finally quickly stomped on his foot… with her four-inch heels._

"_Argh! You bloody tease!" he yelled as he tried to grab her arm._

"_That's enough." Victoire turned to see Teddy with his wand raised._

_John reluctantly dropped his arms and took a step back. "Hey, it was just a snog. That's what ten points?" he shrugged and took a step back, trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal._

"_Didn't look like just a snog to me. It looked like Miss Weasley didn't _want_ to, actually," Teddy said. Victoire was staring at the floor, completely red in the face and doing her best to try and tug her skirt down to its proper spot. _

"_Is that right?" Teddy asked, and Victoire realized he was addressing her. She looked up and nodded. He looked a little scary, actually. His hair and eyes were jet black and his jaw was set. As he stared back at her his face softened, though._

_Samantha Dukes, the other Gryffindor sixth year prefect, walked up and Victoire realized they must have been on prefect rounds. "I grabbed the detention slips," she said as she handed a little notepad to Teddy._

"_So, that will be twenty points from Ravenclaw, and I will recommend detentions," he said to John. _

"_Just because your friends with the little wench…," John said, looking angry. _

"_Want that to be thirty points and even more detentions?" Teddy said, quill still to the pad and a cocked eyebrow._

"_No," John said before leaving. _

"_I've got this, Sam. I'll catch up with you," he said to Samantha as his hair returned to the green color it must have been before. She nodded, looked at Victoire, and continued down the corridor._

"_You okay, kid?" he asked._

_She nodded, still not feeling up to really talking. _

"_Wanna talk about it?" he asked. She shook her head._

"_Want me to hex his bits off tomorrow at breakfast?" he asked and she smiled a little and looked down._

"_Want me to walk you back to Ravenclaw Tower?" he asked and she nodded._

_He put an arm around her and she leaned into him. They didn't talk the whole way there._

"No," Teddy said firmly. "No, it's not. It's just… Matthews told me about it and I didn't wholly believe him until now…."

That apparently didn't help as she squeeked another "Merlin" and kept her hands over her face.

He pulled her hands away from her face. "It's not your fault. Yeah, I feel kinda dopey and hazey when I kiss you, more than I have with any other girl, and yeah the feelings are a lot more…intense, but it's not your fault and actually just makes all of it so much better _and_ those other guys being wankers is still their fault. I can control myself, Victoire, and they could have, too. The feeling's just sort of… an added bonus. You didn't make them the way they were. They already were."

She didn't look completely convinced. He cupped her face and said, "Look, I respect you and I care about you, so I can control it. You're not doing anything wrong."

She nodded and he leaned in and gave her a soft kiss. "I promise," he said as he kissed her face, then her forehead, then her neck. Soon enough, their hands were roaming again.

A half an hour later, Teddy was tugging on his t-shirt as Victoire wrapped her scarf around her neck and whined, "But going to dinner means I have to leave soon."

Teddy laughed and grabbed his coat. "I wish you didn't but you do. Christmas holiday is soon, though."

She smiled as he walked around the room, trying to consolidate all of her bags into one or two big bags. "I like you in the shirt," she said as she walked up to him. It was a black vintage Weird Sisters t-shirt that was so faded it was a dark grey. It was thin from age, too, and complemented his ever changing torso, back, and arms well.

He smiled as he grabbed her two bags and turned to her. "Really? A fashionista like you likes your boyfriend in a band shirt?"

She smiled and he could feel his goofy grin. It was _that_ smile. "I've always liked you in those shirts," she said before standing on her toes to kiss him. "Besides," she added in a whisper, "It looks great with your new Auror body."

He laughed and said, "Hey, what makes you think I wasn't like this before we dated?"

She smirked and said, "Because I have eyes, Lupin." She wrapped her arms around his neck and said, "Of course, I didn't mind the lean look either…"

They were kissing again and he had to pull away before they got too off track. "Tor, you have to leave in an hour."

She sighed and took his hand as they made their way to the Three Broomsticks. Christmas holiday seemed too far away.


	13. Playing Nice

"Promise you'll come to Teddy's party?" Victoire asked as they got off the train at King's Cross.

Ashleigh sighed and said, "Yes, yes, I'll come. I don't know why you want me to come so bad."

"Because, with Em dating Blake and Nat being… whatever it is she's being with Stephen, we all get to still hang out and have boyfriends and all of you only see Teddy at Hogsmeade. I want my best friend to be good friends with my boyfriend," she said as she began glancing around for her parents.

"It didn't exactly work when you two were just friends, did it?" Ashleigh asked, sounding exasperated.

"Promise you'll try?" Victoire said, spotting her parents before looking anxiously at Ashleigh.

"All right, all right. I promise. Now go, I'll see you tomorrow," she said with a smile as she turned Victoire toward her parents.

Ashleigh crossed her arms and watched as Victoire away. "What's up, babe?"

Ashleigh turned around as Brandon wrapped his arms around her. She leaned into him, smiled, and said "Oh, nothing" before kissing him.

"Ashleigh, come along, dear," was the next voice she heard, and it was her mother's.

She groaned and said, "I'll miss you."

He smiled and said, "I'll miss you, too. I'll owl you and take you out soon, okay?"

She smiled and stole another kiss before following after her mother.

Victoire spent the next two days doing last minute Christmas shopping. Louis was right, Fleur was more than happy to take the three kids to Diagon Alley after she picked them up from King's Cross. The three were able to agree on gifts for their parents, and Fleur rejoined them to pick out gifts for their grandparents. Victoire went to Diagon Alley again the next day and barely made it back to Shell Cottage in time for Ashleigh's arrival.

"Is she here?" Victoire asked as she flooed in.

Bill looked up from his paper and said, "No, you made it."

Victoire sighed with relief and hurried back to her room. "Hey, Victoire?" Bill said as he got up and followed her to her room.

"What is it, Daddy? I'm _really_ late," she said as she dropped her bags and began rummaging through her closet for _something_ to wear.

"I just wanted to talk to you about tonight. Just… be careful. There will be a lot of older guys there and…"

Victoire giggled and interrupted to say, "Come on, Dad. It's Teddy. There won't be a problem."

Bill opened and closed his mouth. "Right. Well, if there is… floo right home, okay?"

Victoire looked up after grabbing a pair of heels. _What the hell? _she thought. "Um, okay. Sure, Dad," she said. "Now, I _really _need to change."

Her dad stepped back and she closed and locked the door, pulling off her outfit in record speed. "Oh, come on… I have to have something in blue…" she muttered as she looked at the tops to choose from. She knew Teddy liked her in blue.

There was a knock on the door and Victoire groaned and said "Can't it wait until later?" as she wrapped herself in a robe and opened the door.

"You're _making _me go," said Ashleigh who was already completely ready in skinny jeans, a dark green silky tunic top, and black heels.

Victoire groaned again and said, "I got in late AND I have no idea what I'm going to wear." She then paused to look over Ashleigh's outfit and said, "I said casual-ish, didn't I?"

Ashleigh furrowed her brow and looked down at her outfit. "What? This is casual. I'm wearing jeans, aren't I?"

Victoire laughed and grabbed a top that combined different colors and fabrics trimmed in lace that gave it a vintage, very feminine feel. "Yea or nay?" she said as she held it up.

Ashleigh shrugged and said, "It's pretty… and casual-ish."

Victoire pulled the top on and zipped it up. She surveyed herself in the mirror and said, "And I don't look too young?"

Ashleigh smirked. Victoire was not one to usually be paranoid about her looks. Actually, she could count the times that Victoire had nervously chosen outfits on one hand, and most of those times were before seeing Teddy. Ashleigh bit her lip as Victoire put on her jeans, but when Victoire turned to Ashleigh for approval the bored look returned to Ashleigh's face and she said, "Probably not. It's showing enough cleavage without being trashy, so I'm sure you'll look old enough."

Victoire's eyes widened and she turned to the mirror again. "Oh my God, do I look too slutty?"

Ashley groaned and said, "Ugh, no! You look pretty and fine and old. Now grab some shoes and let's go! I want to get this over with…"

Victoire slid on some flats and grabbed her purse and coat. She then quickly grabbed Ashleigh by both arms and said, "Wait. Before we go, promise me you'll be nice to Teddy. Just… _try_ to be his friend will you?"

Ashleigh looked as if she was contemplating Victoire's request before saying, "All right. I will try to befriend him tonight."

Victoire smiled and looped her arm through Ashleigh's as they walked out of her bedroom. "Oh, then maybe we can double date!"

Ashleigh rolled her eyes and said with a smile, "Goody…"

Victoire laughed and said, "Come on. It would be fun. Oh, and be nice to his friend Chris. He just broke up with his girlfriend. Sam shouldn't really be a problem"

Ashleigh made a disgusted look and said, "Merlin, Tor, you're making me sound like some sort of untactful banshee. I promise I know how to behave in public."

Victoire laughed again and said, "Not a banshee, but you're blunt. And it just might set him off when he's already been moody lately. Chris, that is."

"Fine, fine. I promise I'll behave," Ashleigh said as they walked into the living room and toward the fireplace.

"Bye Daddy!" Victoire said before throwing the floo powder into the fireplace.

As they stepped out Ashleigh dusted herself off and said, "Ugh, I hate traveling by floo. I can't wait until I can apparate."

"Tor!" Teddy said as he walked over to her.

"Teddy!" she exclaimed as she wrapped both arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. It had been a month since they had last seen each other, and Ashleigh looked like she was going to gag.

"All right, let her breathe, Ted. I think we all might throw up if you don't," Chris said. The couple pulled apart and blushed, and Ashleigh smirked. "Hello Victoire, good to see you again. Ted's been talking about you nonstop, of course."

Victoire smiled and raised an eyebrow at Teddy and he shook his head and said, "I wouldn't say nonstop…"

Ashleigh sweetly smiled and said, "No, that would be probably Victoire that was talking constantly about Teddy, actually."

Teddy smirked at the now blushing Victoire and she tried to change the subject by saying, "Um, so Teddy, Chris, you both remember Ashleigh, of course."

Teddy nodded and said, "Hey Ash…" in a way that made Ashleigh wonder if Teddy had gotten a request to be friendly to Ashleigh in one of his latest owls.

"So, can I get you two ladies a drink?" Chris asked.

"Oh, I'll just have a butterbeer," Victoire said as her fingers intertwined with Teddy's.

"Can you make a firewhiskey with pumpkin juice on the rocks?" Ashleigh asked.

Victoire looked at Ashleigh with a raised brow and Ashleigh mouthed "what?"

Chris laughed and said, "Yeah, I think we've got some pumpkin juice around here. Are you sure you want firewhiskey? Aren't you a bit young?"

"I've been going to cocktail parties since I was fourteen. I think I can handle it," she said, smiling sweetly again. Chris shrugged and walked off. Victoire gave a warning looking and Ashleigh muttered, "What? He started it."

"Come on," Teddy said to the girls as he began leading Victoire to a group of people. "Let me introduce you two to some other trainees."

The party seemed to be going well. Victoire had already known most of Teddy's friends from school, and she liked the new ones he had made through training. She was catching up with Sam when Ashleigh decided to have a chat with Teddy.

"Theodore, could we have a little chat?" she asked, grabbing his arm and pulling him from the group.

Teddy looked at her confused. "Erm, is something up?"

"No, it's just that Victoire wants us to be friends. So I thought we should lay out some ground rules," she said, crossing her arms.

"Uh, I'm sorry. Ground rules?" Teddy asked, still confused about where this was going.

"Yes. Some rules. Actually, there's only one. Tor has never pointedly asked me to be friends with a boyfriend of hers before. She's never really even gotten nervous before dates before."

Teddy stood a little straighter with a smile and asked, "She gets nervous?"

Ashleigh rolled her eyes and said, "Congratulations. My point is she obviously really cares about you. A lot. So, if you break her heart or hurt her in anyway, I will hex you so many times in so many places you won't know where to clutch first, your bullocks or your heart. Do we have an understanding?"

Teddy stared at her in shock. He had not expected that. She cocked her eyebrow. "Yeah. Look, I would never hurt her…" he said.

She smiled and said, "That's right. You won't." She then held her hand out and said with a smile, "So, we have an agreement then, _buddy_?"

Teddy shook her hand, still a bit gob smacked. And, as if nothing had just happened, Ashleigh asked, "So how is it working for the ministry then?"

Teddy could barely stammer out an "uh…" when Victoire walked over and said, "Look at you two bonding. So what did I miss? What were you talking about?"

Ashleigh shrugged with a smile. "Nothing really. Just how lucky he is to have you."

Victoire kissed Teddy's cheek and said, "Aw, well do you mind if we go open each other's presents, Ash? You still want to do that here and not at the Burrow, right Teddy?"

Ashleigh shook her head and said, "No, go ahead."

Teddy nodded and said, "Uh, yeah. Definitely. Um, your present is in my room. Want to just pop in there?"

He led her back to his room, looking back at Ashleigh once as she waved her fingers at him and gave a sweet smile. For someone so tiny, she could be incredibly scary.

"Ok," he said as he took her present off his dresser. "You first."

She nodded with a smile and pulled his present out of her purse. "Now, there's two things in there so don't stop after you find the first thing," she said as she handed him the wrapped box.

They both sat down on his bed as he began unwrapping the box. The first thing he pulled out was a sneakoscope. He chuckled and she said, "My Aunt Hermione says no Auror should be without one." He leaned in and gave her a kiss before pulling out the stuffing paper to find the rest of his present. He was shocked when he pulled out the old Weird Sisters shirt. It looked exactly like the one his mum was wearing in his favorite picture of his parents, only bigger. It was from their 1992 tour. "W- where…" he stammered, "Where did you find this?"

Victoire squirmed a little and said, "Their fanclub. I wrote a little while back asking where you can find vintage shirts… I got an answer back and then I just told the dealers and traders which one I was looking for. Do you like it?"

"It's perfect," he said as he leaned in to kiss her. He knew Ashleigh had been covering earlier when she said how lucky he was to have her, but he really felt that way.

He reluctantly pulled away for his turn. He handed her the small box and she quickly unwrapped and opened it to find a chain with a small dark silver star with eight points and a sapphire in the middle of it.

"Oh, it's so pretty," she said as she pulled it out and placed it in her hand.

"It's erm, supposed to be the North Star. You know, it's the only star that never moves in the sky. It's…. it's a constant," he said, reading her reaction.

She looked up and broke out into a full smile, understanding his meaning. "Like my constant?" she asked. He nodded and she asked, "Will you help me put it on?"

She turned and pulled her hair up so he could put the chain around her neck and do the clasp. When she turned back around she said, "Good, something to remind me of you when I'm at school. Not that I really need one, of course." She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love it."

He smiled back, relieved that she had liked the necklace. He was a little afraid it would be too simple, but he hoped she would really like it once she understood it's meaning. He placed some stray hair in her face behind her ear, took a deep breath, and said, "I love you, Victoire."

She was smiling wide again and she whispered, "Yeah?" When he nodded she said, "I love you, too." She leaned in and kissed him and soon enough she was straddling his lap so she could be closer. Her hands slid under the back of his shirt and she relished in being this close to him again. They broke away to allow just enough time for her to pull off his shirt, and again moments later so he could unzip and pull off hers. He kissed her shoulder as he unclasped her bra.

He glanced down before kissing her clavicle and saying, "Merlin, you're

amazing."

She giggled and said, "That's what you said the last time you saw them."

"Well," he said as he trailed kisses down her chest, "That's because you still are."

She giggled again before taking his face in both her hands and saying, "Teddy, just so you know… I'm not ready to go… all the way, just yet."

He nodded and said, "Ok."

She smiled and leaned in to kiss him on the mouth again.

Ten minutes later, Ashleigh was talking to an Auror trainee named Simon. She wanted to kill herself as he droned on about training. However, she could never find a good way of ditching him without looking rude, and Victoire made it clear that she wanted Ashleigh to play nice tonight.

"Sorry mate, she's got a boyfriend and she's underage," Chris said, leaning into the conversation.

"Oh, thanks, man. Uh, nice to meet you, Miss Avery," Simon said as he rejoined some other trainees.

Ashleigh looked at Chris, disgusted, and said in a low voice, "Are you kidding me? That was him _flirting_?"

Chris laughed and said, "Want a refill, then?"

She handed him her glass and said, "After that rousing conversation? Yes, please!"

"Simon's a bit boring, but he's a nice chap," he said as he walked towards the kitchen. "By the way, I saw you talking to Teddy. Did Tor tell you to make nice and be friends with Teddy, too?"

She followed him, leaned against the counter and said, "Oh, yes. We were just gabbing over hair secrets, actually. I'm sure we'll be best friends for life." She then smirked and said, "So, Victoire told me to be nice to you, too, because you just broke up with your girlfriend, which makes me wonder: who dumped whom?"

Chris turned and looked at her in surprise before returning to her drink. "I'm sure you telling me you're supposed to be nice doesn't exactly fall into the category."

As he handed her the drink she said, "Thanks. Well, I'm not exactly one to beat around the bush. And you" she said, pointing at him with the hand holding her drink as her other hand rested on her hip, "didn't answer my question."

He finished refilling his drink and turned around as she sipped on hers. He smirked at how the taste of firewhiskey didn't make her cringe at all. "She dumped me."

"Oh," Ashleigh said. She should have guessed that, though, if she was supposed to be nice. "I'm sorry, then."

He shrugged and began walking out of kitchen. "Apparently two years of dating isn't worth working through the years of Auror training."

Ashleigh followed him out and said with a smirk, trying to change the subject, "Why is it you Gryfindors all feel it is your life's calling to be an Auror?"

Chris's recently moody outlook was rearing its ugly head again and he said, "Well, someone has to stick your family and housemates in Azkaban when they try to kill half-bloods and muggleborns, right?"

She glared at him and grabbed his arm to stop him from continuing to walk forward. "My great grandfather and grandfather may have been Death Eaters, but I never knew them and my father certainly wasn't. He's a good man. My mother is a half-blood, so which side do you think he was on? And don't you dare stereotype my house because of a war that happened twenty years ago. I suggest you not speaking unless you know the facts, Mr. Jones. Or else, you might make the wrong judgment call and end up a really shotty Auror," she said in a low enough voice that he could hear both her and her anger, but the other party guests didn't.

With that she turned on her heel and entered the conversation of a few trainees not far away. Chris almost marveled at how quickly she could change from incredibly angry to polite and conversational. He probably shouldn't have said that about her family, but she asked about Regina first, which put him in a sour mood.

When Teddy and Victoire finally resurfaced, looking mildly disheveled, Victoire rejoined Ashleigh and Chris pulled Teddy aside.

"So what's the deal with Ashleigh's family? I thought the whole lot of them were Death Eaters," Chris said as he took a drink.

Teddy shook his head and said, "No, her great grandfather was one of Voldemort's original followers and her grandfather was one during the second war. He bungled it up a lot though, escaping imprisonment after the first war by saying he was under the Imperius Curse and then messing up a lot during the second. Her dad married Serena uh… Fawcett either before or during the second war. She's a half blood. Tor said that he would have been completely cut out of the will if it weren't for Ash's grandmother and the fact that Ash's dad really revamped the family business. Ash's grandfather died in the Battle at Hogwarts and the whole estate, business, everything was left to her dad. All the Dark stuff was turned into the Ministry and he made donations to help the rebuilding of Hogwarts. They are absolutely rolling in money. I mean, filthy rich." Teddy tried to read Chris's face since he looked deep in thought. "What happened?"

Chris shrugged and said, "I just told her Aurors were needed to put her family and Slytherins in Azkaban." Teddy gave him a look and Chris said, "What, she asked about my break up. It pissed me off."

Teddy put his hands in his pockets and said, "Well, I knew you two would hate each other."

Chris raised an eyebrow and said, "Why?"

Teddy said, "Because she's really blunt and neither of you put up with other people's shit." He then clapped Chris on the back and said, "But could you be nice to her around Tor? She really cares about what Ashleigh thinks."

Chris took another swig of his drink before saying, "Fine."

Teddy smiled and walked back over to Victoire and Ashleigh, who were now talking to Sam. All in all, he thought it all went really well. Victoire liked his friends and they all seemed to like her. Opening their presents and the fooling around that resulted definitely didn't hurt. It would turn out to be one of his favorite Christmas parties.


	14. Too Young?

Victoire and Teddy spent their Christmases how they normally did. On Christmas Eve he celebrated with his grandmother and Victoire celebrated with her family in France. On Christmas morning he celebrated at the Potters, and Victoire celebrated at Shell Cottage. On Christmas night the Weasleys, Potters, and Teddy and usually his grandmother would all celebrate at the Burrow.

The party was just as loud and festive as always. The younger kids kept running through the house, in between the adults, firing at each other with whichever WWW product they had gotten that morning. Ron and Mr. Weasley were playing Wizard's Chess while George and Harry played a very loud game of exploding snap.

"Honestly, Harry! I can barely hear myself think!" Hermione scolded as she tried to catch up with Ginny and Angelina.

Dominique, Molly, Roxanne and Lucy were in a corner gossiping and giggling while Percy and Audrey were being fussed over by Mrs. Weasley. Victoire was playing Christmas songs on the piano as she talked to Teddy, who was leaning against it.

"Oh I always knew zey would get together," Fleur said with a smile.

"Oh, really?" Andromeda asked with a chuckle.

Fleur shrugged and said, "Well, I at least had my suspicions."

The two laughed and Andromeda said, "Oh, just look at them. What could you possibly not like about young love?"

Bill, who had been standing quietly next to his wife as this conversation occurred, could think of many things he could not like about it.

Fleur turned to him and rubbed his back soothingly. "Somezeeng wrong, Beel?" she asked.

Bill shook his head, smiled and said, "Nothing, dear. I'll talk to you about it later."

"So, I'm guessing you did well with presents this morning," Teddy asked as he leaned on the piano.

Victoire laughed and said, "Yup. New dress. Do you like it?"

"Don't know. I can't exactly see it when you've been playing songs most of the time," he said with a smirk.

Victoire cocked her head to the side and said, "I'm sorry. Nicki will come play soon or we'll put the wireless on. My grandparents love it when we play."

Teddy put his chin in his hand and said, "I know…. I know…" He the smiled, leaned in, and said, "I'm glad you're wearing the necklace."

Victoire smiled and said, "I'm pretty sure I'll be wearing it all the time."

Victoire was right about her time playing the piano. Fifteen minutes later it was time for Christmas dinner, and the rest of the night either Nicki played or the wireless was on.

"How's training, Teddy?" Hermione asked during dinner. Teddy and Victoire were both at the "adult" table this year and sitting in between Teddy's grandmother and Victoire's parents.

"Rough," Teddy said with a laugh. "But, that's expected, right?"

"Just wait until the last part of this first year," said Harry.

"The weed out process," Ron said, but not before taking a big bite of his ham.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron speaking with food in his mouth and nudged Ron in the side. "Ow, 'Mione. What the hell?"

"Language, Ronald," Hermione and Mrs. Weasley said at the same time. Victoire couldn't hold back her snicker.

"What do you plan on doing after you graduate, Victoire?" Audrey asked.

"Oh, I think I want to work in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Maybe be a translator and work my way up to being a mediator. I want to travel and I'm still working on my languages, but I'm up to four pretty fluently," Victoire said with a smile.

As they said their goodbyes later on that night, Teddy pulled Victoire aside and asked, "Hey, how about I take you out on a real non-Hogsmeade date sometime this week?"

Victoire smiled, bit her lip, and said, "Ok. I think we're due."

He smiled and said "love you" before leaning in to give her a kiss goodbye. Victoire smiled into the kiss, but quickly pulled away when she heard a very sharp "Victoire."

Victoire blushed and gave Teddy a hug, saying "love you, too" before walking over to her dad to grab her coat. Teddy was slightly unnerved by the stern look he was receiving from Bill Weasley. Victoire and her family made their rounds of saying goodbye to her extended family before finally flooing home.

"Oh, Merlin, I'm exhausted," Victoire said as she stepped out of the floo and stretched.

"I'm crashing," Louis said as he began walking back to his room and Dominique walked back to her room as well.

"Hey, Victoire, could you wait a moment? I want to talk to you about something," Bill said as he walked over and sat in his usual oversized chair.

"Sure, Daddy," she said with a yawn as she sat on the couch. "What's up?" From the look on her mother's face, it seemed like Fleur didn't know either.

"I just… I don't really like you dating Teddy, or how serious it's getting," he said calmly.

Victoire laughed but then stopped when his expression didn't change. "Wait…. You're not joking, are you?" She then looked to her mother and said, "Maman…"

"Beell, where is zis coming from?" Fleur asked.

"Victoire, you know I like Teddy. I've know him since he was a baby-"

Victoire interrupted her father to say, "Right, you've know him forever. That's why I don't understand-"

"But he's two years older than you, Victoire. You're 16. You're too young to be getting serious with a guy that's too old to even be in school with you anymore," he said matter-of-factly.

"What?" Victoire said, anger rising in her voice.

"I heard you say you loved him, Tor. You're too young. You don't know what love is," he said.

Victoire was completely flabbergasted. "Are you _serious?_ First of all, I don't think you can scold me on age differences when you're seven years older than maman. And Teddy's only _two _years older than me and I've know him forever. I would think you would be happy about it because you can trust him! Besides what has he ever done for you to not trust him? He's training to become an Auror AND he was Head Boy. I would think you would appreciate that since YOU were Head Boy. And you can't tell me I'm too young to know whether or not I love someone. Wasn't Uncle Harry sixteen when he broke up with Aunt Ginny because he said everyone he loved got killed? Because that's the story I was always told. OH, and that means Aunt Ginny was 15. They seem to be doing just fine."

"Victoire," Fleur said sharply, cutting her daughter off. Bill's calm demeanor had changed into an angry one. "Do not speak to your father like zat."

"But maman-" Victoire whined.

"No. Go to your room. I'll talk to your father," Fleur said sternly.

"Yes, maman," she said quietly before leaving the room.

"Beell, again, where is thees coming from?" Fleur asked after Victoire left.

"Come on, Fleur. He's two years older than her and she's already saying I love you?" Bill said, sighing and leaning back into his chair.

"Well, she's right. I'm seven years younger zen you," Fleur said calmly.

"Did you see his hair tonight? Bright red with green streaks?"

Fleur smirked and said, " 'e was being festive. If I remember right, you 'ad a ponytail and a fang for an earring when I met you."

Bill sounded exasperated as he said, "Yeah, but he's going to be an Auror. That's a dangerous job."

"And a noble one. Cursebreaking is dangerous, too," Fleur said, suddenly looking amused.

"She's too young, Fleur," he finally said.

Fleur smiled warmly and said, "You're scared because she's our leetle girl, yes?" She took his hand and said, "She can take care of 'erself. She only 'as a year and a 'alf left of school. We 'ave to let her grow up." Bill sighed and Fleur continued. "Besides, it looks like she 'as more of me in her zen we thought." Bill looked up at her confused and she said with a smirk, "She's a pristine girl who fell for zee accomplished but edgier… and maybe even more dangerous boy."

Bill finally cracked a smile. "Where did I miss her getting old enough to do that?"

Fleur cocked her head and smiled as she said, "Probably around zee time zat she began curling her hair and wearing 'eels everyday."

"And if he breaks her heart?" Bill asked.

"He won't," Fleur said confidently. "But if 'e does we will be zere for her and she'll move on like we all 'ave. Don't worry so much. Zere are just some theengs she 'as to do on her own."

He nodded and she stood up, taking his hand. "Come on, eet 'as been a long day."

He slowly stood up and once he did she smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek before whispering, "And we can finally celebrate zee 'oliday alone."

Victoire woke up the next morning to her dad standing in the doorway saying, "Victoire, do you want breakfast? We made crepes."

"Mm… early…" she groaned.

Bill laughed. She could talk all day about how she was so old, but she still acted like the five year old that never got enough sleep when she was just waking up.

She sat up in bed and rubbed at her eyes, and began remembering she was angry at her dad. "Fine," she said as she pulled herself out of bed.

Bill sighed and said, "Look, Victoire. You're my first child. I haven't gotten used to any of you being old enough to almost be grown up. So, I'm sorry for last night. I was worried. I'm your dad. That's what I do."

He managed to make her smile a little, so he continued. "I know Teddy is a good bloke, and he probably knows that if he did hurt you that he would have five Weasley uncles and a horde of cousins after him. You have to cut me some slack, though. I'm not used to watching from the sidelines with any of you."

She nodded and said, "Well, I'm sorry I got so mad. It was… disrespectful. And I'm sure it didn't help me seem any older."

He smiled and said, "You've got the Weasley temper. You're always going to snap like a seven-year-old. Look at your aunt and uncles."

She laughed and said, "Well, still, sorry. I really am fine though. I know what I'm doing and Teddy's a really good guy and…"

"It's ok. I know," he said with a smile. "Now come on, breakfast will be cold."

As she walked across the room and out of her door he added, "That doesn't mean I'll stop worrying. Or you will stop having a curfew. I won't stop being protective either."

Victoire stopped, sighed, and smiled before saying, "Fine. I guess it is sort of your job." She gave him a hug before following him into the kitchen and sitting down at the breakfast table with the rest of her family.


	15. Already the Favorite

"Dad, I can't answer the door! Can't you just do it?" yelled Victoire from within her room.

Bill had a late day at Gringotts and just finished getting home and eating dinner. It was the first spare time he had to relax, and all he wanted to do was unwind by reading the _Daily Prophet._

Without looking up from his paper he said, "Tor, you've been ready for an hour. Why can't you do it? I just sat down."

"Come on, Dad. Please? Louis? Nicki?" Victoire yelled in response.

"I've got it, mon cheri," Fleur said as walked to the door. "Teddy," she said with a smile when she opened the door. "Come in. I theenk Victoire is almost ready."

Bill tried to conceal his chuckle with moderate success.

Victoire walked out of her room then with her purse in one hand and coat in the other. Teddy was mildly surprised that she followed his "dress down" suggestion. She was in a plain black long-sleeve t-shirt with a black and white scarf around her neck, dark jeans, and black flats.

"What?" she said with a smirk as she began putting on her coat.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged as he said, "Nothing. I'm just a little surprised to see you not wearing heels or some fancy shirt."

She gave him a mock glare and said, "You said dress down, I told you I could." She then turned to her parents with a smile and said, "Bye maman and dad!"

As she tried to quickly usher Teddy out the door Bill said, "Remember, curfew's 11:30."

Once they got outside the door she pulled on some gloves and said, "All right, so where are we off to?"

Teddy smiled and said, "Well since you can't really explore London yet to find the more… hidden spots, I'm going to bring them to you. Or actually, bring you to them."

Teddy owled Victoire the day after Christmas about when she would want to go out. In her reply she had mentioned that she didn't need to go anywhere too fancy and all she needed was to have fun with him. At first he wondered if she thought he couldn't afford it, and so she was trying to keep him from feeling pressured to take her somewhere nice. Then he thought about her past boyfriends and realized that when she did go out on dates, which would probably not be that often since she was at school for most of the year, they were probably either Madame Puddifoot's or some restaurant the blokes thought would impress her.

So, he decided to be a bit more low key. He took her arm and side along Apparated them to a side street in London. He took her hand to lead them out of the alley and onto the sidewalk.

Victoire glanced around as she interlocked her fingers with his and said, "Oh… this is by the Ministry, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Teddy said as he turned the corner. "There's this hole-in-the-wall Italian place that's great."

Victoire smiled and followed him and said, "Has Auror training let up yet?"

"No, but I mean, it could be worse, I guess," he said as they walked into the restaurant. "I don't get paired with Matthews very often. I hope they end up partnering me with Chris."

"Well, they partnered Harry with Ron, so I'm sure they will," she said. She noticed that the restaurant was very low-key, which she loved.

"Did you like everyone else, though? Who knows… Grant might stick me with someone else," he said as they sat down at an empty table.

Victoire smiled and said, "I told you I did. And I meant to ask you… did you invite all of the trainees _except_ for Colin?"

Teddy acted nonchalant as he lifted up his menu so it could cover his most of his face and said, "Maybe…"

Victoire laughed and said as she began perusing the menu, "Well, it would have been quite awkward with you, Ashleigh, and me there."

Teddy lifted an eyebrow and said, "Really? Why Ashleigh?"

The waiter came over then to take their order on drinks, and after Victoire gave him hers, she said, "You know the owls that chased him out of the Great Hall that Monday morning after?" When Teddy nodded she continued, "That was her doing."

Teddy began laughing. He had loved seeing owls chasing after Matthews, pecking him and trying to nest in his hair. He then stopped laughing and said, "Er… has she done anything to any of your ex-boyfriends?"

Victoire tilted her head as she thought. "Well, I think she just gave Adam dirty looks for a while… and Will 'accidentally' got a jelly-legs jinx in charms one day. Nothing happened with Isaac, of course. She's still pretty nice to him." She then giggled and said, "John's bits disappeared for a day and when he threatened to tell a teacher she… well actually she never told me what her threat back was. Anyways, he didn't tell and she ended up letting them reappear that night, but it sure as hell scared him for a day. What you did was more visible, really. Why?"

She wondered why he was asking. After all, Teddy had scared Will by being older and giving Will menacing looks every time he saw him… and Victoire hadn't even told him the part where Will brought up her Veelan heritage. Teddy had glared at fellow Gryffindor, Adam. He had always hated Colin, which should have been Victoire's clue from the start, and the hatred had just intensified.John's punishment was by far the worst.

_At the next Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match after Victoire and John broke up, John tried to hit Teddy with a bludger multiple times, even when Teddy wasn't going for the Snitch. Teddy had told Victoire that he tried to let it go at first. He knew John was just mad because John had ended up with detentions for a month. Right before Teddy caught the Snitch, he almost got hit with the bludger again. _

_When the game was over Teddy flew over to John and said, "Look, you need to get over it. You messed up, you got in trouble." _

"_What, are you trying to shag that cunt now?" John said._

_Victoire had been in the stands with Sarah, the only friend she had that would go to all the games with her, and didn't notice anything going on. The next minute people were yelling and she looked over to see Teddy on top of John, beating the living daylights out of him. John got possibly two swings in before the fight was broken up._

_Later on, Teddy was sitting on his bed, reluctantly letting Victoire put healing potion on the few cuts on his face and knuckles. "You do know you're a wizard," Victoire remembered saying. "You could have just hexed him. You wouldn't have bruised hands if you did."_

_He shrugged and said, "I wasn't exactly thinking at all when it happened. I just… wanted nothing more than to be the shit out of him."_

_Victoire chuckled and he sighed. "How many detentions did you get?"_

"_Only four. She almost suspended me from the next game. Then she said something about Harry missing enough games for the both of us for the same thing… I dunno I stopped listening then," Teddy said, wincing as she dabbed some potion onto a cut on his cheek. "I'm probably out of the running for Head Boy, though."_

_Victoire rolled her eyes and said, "Please. That's the first time you've gotten a detention and he already had a month's worth…__**and**__ he said something about your mum and dad. They're not going to get that mad just because you finally went off on someone for saying stuff about them. They probably will think you finally got it out of your system."_

"_Yeah, probably…" he said, wincing again. He didn't tell Victoire what John really said. It bothered him a little to lie, but he knew she was really sensitive about all of that, so he just made up a story about how John called his dad a shaggy mangy werewolf and his mum a cunt. It sounded close enough and no one was close enough to the two of them to know exactly what John said. _

"_I wish you could just change your looks and the cuts would just go away," Victoire said. _

"_Ahh…" he said when a particular scratch on his hand burned more than the rest. "You and me both."_

"_Oh, wouldn't that be neat if your skin could just magically heal?" Victoire said with a smile._

_Teddy smirked and raised his hand that she had been working on, half of which was closing back up and going back to its normal skin color. "You do know you're a witch."_

"_Oh shut up," Victoire said, smirking back. "You know what I meant."_

"Nothing major," he said, looking at his menu again.

"Don't lie to me, Theodore Remus Lupin. I know you too well," she said. In actuality, she had had a suspicion that the Teddy/John fight was over something other than his parents. After all, he had never beaten anyone up for saying much worse things about his parents. However, that was a sensitive subject for him, so she hadn't pressed it that day. She wondered if it had been because of her, but at the time she thought it was wishful thinking.

Teddy tilted his head and said, "Well… Ashleigh and I might have had a chat at my party."

"A chat? What does that mean?" she asked, raising her eyebrow.

"It doesn't matter. She just threatened me not to hurt you, and I'm not going to, so it's not a big deal," he said, and Victoire laughed. He grinned and looked up as the waiter placed their drinks on their table and asked if they were ready to order.

"I know she can be scary sometimes but you said you're starting to like her, didn't you?" Victoire asked once their orders had been given.

Teddy thought back to his 'chat' with Ashleigh again and said, "Yeah. She's growing on me."

Victoire narrowed her eyes and said, "Ok. Oh! I forgot to tell you about when Geoffrey Mayer tried to transfigure the desk on the last day of class before holiday…"

Victoire thought that so far it was her favorite date. She wasn't sure if it was because it was always so easy to talk to Teddy, or if it was when he tried to swirl his spaghetti around his fork and sauce flew everywhere, causing them both to laugh, or if it was the chills she received when he kissed her neck as they left the restaurant. She just knew she had never enjoyed a date so much, and they had only had dinner thus far.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder as they walked down the sidewalk and she slid her hand up his back. As they approached another corner she noticed a pond that had frozen over and now was being used to skate on.

"Teddy! Let's go skate! Pleeeasee…" she whined, tugging on his coat.

He looked down at her incredulously and said, "I don't skate, Tor."

"Oh come on, I'll show you how. It'll be fun!" she said, tugging on his coat again.

He looked down at his watch and said, "Fine. We've got time."

They quickly crossed the street and Teddy said, "Well, we don't have skates."

"Voila!" she said with a cheeky grin after casting a charm on his shoes, transfiguring them into skates. She then transfigured her own shoes.

"Well, somebody's getting a NEWT in Transfiguration…" he said as she took his hands and he reluctantly joined her on the ice.

"It's not hard! Come on. You were some big shot seeker, weren't you? You _have_ to have the balance," she said as she tried to guide him at first as she glided with ease.

"Yeah… on a broom…not on tiny blades!" he said, trying not to get frustrated.

She let go of him and said, "See…. Just be smooth. Smooth strokes just like this…" she skated a little bit faster so she was in front of him before beginning to do trickier moves. When she noticed the slightly annoyed look on his face she smiled and said, "What?"

"This is bloody hard! That's what!" he said, almost falling as he said it.

"No… it's kind of like dancing…" she said encouragingly.

"Except worse," he said. He kept on for a few minutes, making sharp movements and skating awkwardly. He wasn't as amused as Victoire by the tweens who were able to lap him. Finally Victoire took his hand again and began to guide him again. Once he started to skate normally she began skating the two of them faster. Unfortuntately for the both of them, Teddy felt like he was starting to get the hang of it and stopped leaving his arms out for balance, he promptly slipped and fell flat on his back, bringing Victoire down with him.

Victoire broke into laughter and Teddy looked over at her giggling, her hair everywhere with pieces of the shaved ice in it, and began laughing as well.

"You okay?" he said, brushing the hair out of her face.

She laughed and said, "Oh, I'm fine. But you were _definitely_ not made for the ice."

"Hey…" he said, turning his hair white and his eyes to a light blue.

She laughed more and he leaned in and kissed her. She began to kiss him back when she heard another kid whiz by them. She pulled away with a smile and tried to help him up while getting up herself.

"Let's go get warm, huh?" he said once they reached the snow and he finally could maintain balance on his own.

After transfiguring their shoes back to normal he led her to his original destination. It was a tiny coffee shop with live music playing in the back. As they waited in line she studied the coffee shop, bobbing along to the acoustic guitar.

Teddy smirked and said, "Like it?"

She smiled and said "Yup" before stepping up to kiss him.

When they made their order she grabbed a table and he waited and brought the drinks.

"Two hot chocolates… whip cream…" he said, placing the drinks on the table.

Victoire had thoroughly enjoyed the night. She had been slightly worried before. After all they went from friends to a long distance relationship. Even Hogsmeade dates didn't mean you could really just be with that person. People were everywhere. The other times she saw him were the Christmas parties and they didn't get to be alone that often. However, tonight made her lose all of her worries that things would be different now that they were in a relationship, except for the fact that it was better.

She reluctantly let him take her home in time for her to make curfew. She pouted and rested her forehead against his, encircling her arms around his neck.

"We still have New Year's," he whispered before giving her a kiss.

"But it won't be just the two of this. And we definitely need more of this before I have to go back," she said before kissing him back.

"I agree… Maybe you can come by after Auror training tomorrow?" he said as he continued to kiss her. He then abruptly stopped and she sighed. "Almost time. Don't want to give your dad a reason to get mad."

"He _does_ like you, Teddy. He was just being… well, he was just being a dad," she said.

"Sure, sure…" he said with a lopsided smile. He gave another kiss as they hugged before pulling away and saying. "Night. Love you."

She smiled and said "Love you, too" before walking inside her house. It still gave her butterflies everytime they said it to each other. She definitely wanted to try and go over to his flat tomorrow. If not, well, she was looking forward to New Year's.

_Author's Note: I listened to Lucky by Jason Mraz quite a lot while writing this chapter. I think it's perfect for them! You should check it out! Oh, and here's your explanation of the retaliation against John. I imagined he had done something! Also, sorry this took forever. I had a test Tuesday AND major writer's block on this chapter. I have things written out that's FOREVER from now but couldn't get this one down. __ I'll leave you with the chorus to Lucky: "Lucky that I'm in love with my best friend. Lucky to have been where I have been . Lucky to be coming home again. Lucky we're in love in every way. Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed. Lucky to be coming home today."_


	16. Teddy's Mistake

"How bad was it?" Sam asked.

"Real bad," Teddy said, taking a swig of his butterbeer.

"Vanessa at Madame Puddifoot's bad?" Chris asked.

Teddy nodded, looking straight ahead.

"Chelsea at the ball seventh year bad?" Sam asked.

Teddy, still staring straight ahead, said in a dead sounding voice, "Worse."

Chris, who had been leaning back in his chair, came down on all four legs and leaned in with a raised eyebrow. "Worse than April's birthday dinner at her house with her parents and grandparents while her mum picked out baby names for your future family?"

Teddy looked over at Chris and glared.

Chris didn't stop but said, "Or worse than Vanessa asking you if _everything_ on your body could change shape and size loud enough for McGonagall to give the answer on a Metamorphagus's transfigurations?"

"You had to bring that one up?" Teddy said, suddenly looking disgusted from the memory.

Chris raised his glass of firewhiskey and said "Had to be done" as Sam snickered.

"So, why was it bad?" Sam asked as Teddy rubbed at his face.

"Well, it didn't start off bad," Teddy said, leaning back in his chair. It hadn't started off badly at all. He remembered arriving at Ashleigh's house. He remembered barely noticing the crooked eyebrow of the man who opened the door because he saw the girls waiting by the stairs, and Victoire looked amazing. Looking back, he probably had a stupid grin on his face because Victoire had blushed and looked down before walking over to him.

"_Look at you," she said with a smile. He was wearing a suit and, to get into the New Year's spirit, he had silver hair. _

_He smiled back, a hand on her waist, and said, "Look at you." She was wearing this fancy dress that happened to match the color of his hair, but what he really liked was how her legs looked in the dress._

"We get it. She's hott. Get to the part we can use for blackmail. And Theresa," Sam said, now looking at the brunette waitress that walked by. "Another round guys?" After the nods of approval, Sam said, "Another round, please."

"All right, all right. So… it wasn't so bad at first. It was kind of like a Hogwarts ball all over again except not as big, and there were some parents there, too," Teddy said, taking another swig of his butterbeer.

"Oh, were her parents there or something?" Chris asked, but Teddy shook his head.

"No. That wouldn't have been bad. I know her mum and dad. Anyway, so one of the girls had to go to the loo so they all went and I was stuck with the rest of the boyfriends," Teddy said, but once again, he was interrupted.

"Aw, did the 6th year boyfriends make fun of you?" Sam asked as he thanked Theresa with a wink as she gave them their second drinks.

Teddy gave Sam a look and said, "No. Actually, they're not bad. They're kinda cool. It was more everyone else at the party."

_Being out of school for over half of a year made him amused at the three other guys' talk about Hogwarts. He was actually getting interested in how Gryffindor was doing interested._

"_Whose the guy with silver hair?" Teddy heard, and he smirked. He had been hearing things like that for years. "What, does he dye it? Must be a poof." Teddy rolled his eyes. He had heard that one before. Right on cue, Victoire grabbed his hand and gave him a kiss._

"_Ready to dance?" she asked._

_He mostly remembered all of the dancing she thought him last year, which was good considering everyone seemed to be very formal. After a few dances Victoire abruptly stop. "Oh no," she said, sighing. She rested her chin on Teddy's shoulder. "Natalie and Stephen are getting in a row." She quickly looked around the room. Charlotte was deep in conversation in the corner with Tom, not noticing anything else in the world going on. Emma was trying to hide her and Blake as they snogged, and doing a poor job of it. Ashleigh apparently wanted more privacy because she was leading Brandon out of the ballroom with a smirk on her face. _

"_Oh, bloody hell," Victoire said with a roll of the eyes. "Sorry, love. I need to go help Nat… or save Stephen. I'm not quite sure yet." Teddy laughed and let her go. _

"_It's ok. I'll go to the loo and get us drinks or something," he said before she gave him a chaste kiss and walked as fast as she could in her heels over to Natalie._

_Teddy's hands were in his pockets as he walked over to the loo, passing a group of girls who chuckled as he walked by. "I thought this was a _formal_ party…" one said a bit loudly._

_Teddy just smirked and continued to the bathroom. _

"So what? You're used to the hair stuff," Chris said. "You only get mad when someone talks about…oh."

"_I can't believe she invited a half-breed. I thought she was just being single," Teddy heard one of the guys already at the bar say._

_The other guy snickered and said, "I know. What a waste."_

"_Probably just 'cause all of her friends have boyfriends," said the guy as he turned around._

_Teddy was staring straight at him, his hair a dark silvery grey now. The guy that called him a half-breed just smirked, shrugged, and said "What?" as he walked by. Teddy could just tell his own features were darkening._

_The rest of the night didn't pick up. Victoire came back and when she noticed his hair was now black and slicked back she giggled and said, "Doesn't someone look suave?" That didn't help his mood. She liked this look?_

"Ah, shite. You didn't get mad at her, did you?" Chris said, shaking his head.

"Not exactly…" Teddy said, tilting his head.

_A half of an hour later, the five couples were socializing when Teddy could hear the conversation next to them. "Just ignore them," Victoire whispered when she felt the grip on her waist tighten a bit. She smiled and gave him a kiss before saying, "Those girls they are with have always talked about the girls and I behind our back and the assholes they're with are just as vile."_

_According to the conversation behind them, Ashleigh was social climbing and gold digging by dating Brandon. "Does that not bother you?" Teddy asked to Ashleigh, probably the only other person in the group that could hear the trash-talking._

_Ashleigh smirked and said, "Please, I have enough status and money without Brandon. Why would I let a lie bother _me?"_ She laughed as if it was absurd before turning to Brandon and whispering something in his ear, to which he wrapped his arm around her tighter and smirked as he kissed her._

_Natalie was a raving lunatic who was good in the sack, which is why Stephen stayed with her. Emma was a prude and Blake was already at wit's end. Charlotte had had three pregnancy scares already, and Tom was sticking with her for her dowry. "The usual," Victoire muttered. "It's all about sex, status, and money. Really, Teddy, don't let it bother you."_

_Teddy was trying not to let it bother him. The only time people talked negatively about him it was about his looks or his parents, mainly his dad. Talking about his looks never bothered him, after all, he was the one who made himself look whatever way he looked that day. It really bothered him when people talked about his parents. Luckily, most people didn't know about it, and not everyone who did know said anything. _

"_Think he acts like one?" said one of the blokes._

"_I don't know. He's not very hairy," said a girl. _

_Another girl sound annoyed as she said, "He could just make it disappear, Ann."_

"_Whatever. But why is she with _him_?" Ann said. "He's not rich, his family's not exactly high in society unless you want to count Potter being his godfather. His grandmother is a black, but she's been out of it since she married that muggle-born."_

_Victoire gripped Teddy's arm to make sure he was calm. "She probably just likes it rough so she's dating a werewolf. After all, she's part-Veela and everyone knows they're kinky…" _

"You hexed him, didn't you?" Sam said, shaking his head.

"_Shut up," Teddy said, pushing the guy he would later find out was Bernard Gibbon. _

"_Excuse me?" said Gibbon as he turned to face Teddy._

"_Don't talk about my parents and don't talk about Victoire," Teddy said calmly but coolly._

"_Or what? Going to maul me because your some half-breed mutt dating another hybrid…."_

_And even though Teddy had been in Auror training for around seven months and been in dueling almost every day for most of that time, Teddy forgot about his wand. He also forgot that the guy who was saying this was 16 or 17 and he was going to be 19 in four months. He wasn't thinking about how he was an Auror trainee staring down some Slytherin in the middle of a party full of tons of people he didn't know. He felt the exact same way he had after the Quidditch match when he fought John._

_And that was when his fist connected with Gibbon's face. "Teddy!" Victoire yelled, grabbing his arm. Someone else grabbed onto him, too, and pulled him back. It was one of the guys, but he wasn't sure who._

Sam shook his head and said, "Ah, man…" as Chris started laughing.

"_What the hell?" Ashleigh yelled. "Don't start a fight in my _house_!"_

_Gibbon was back on his feet and said, "See. Can't make an animal a person."_

_Victoire turned on Gibbon and said, "Shut your bigoted mouth, Bernard."_

_She then angrily looked at Teddy and said, "Come on, let's go."_

_Once they made it to the foyer, Teddy began cooling down. "Tor, I'm sorry…"_

"_Don't, just…" she sighed and looked around for a minute before grabbing his hand and pulling him upstairs. She dragged him into what he figured was Ashleigh's room before slamming the door and yelling, "Teddy, you HAVE to learn to control your anger."_

_Teddy sighed and said, "I know… I know…"_

"_No! You just punched one of my classmates in front of all of my friends and my friends' parents and some of my own parents' friends! You just made a huge scene because of some dumbass who didn't even know what he was talking about and didn't even say it to your face!"_

_Teddy opened his mouth but she pointed at him and said, "No, I'm not finished. You always tell me not to care about what other people think. Why can't you? Why do you always have to get so angry when someone brings up the werewolf thing? Don't you realize that you let them win when you hash it all out in public? That was just so… idiotic!"_

_Teddy couldn't take it anymore. "How could you be friends with people who think that?_

_Victoire was even more fuming now. "They're not my friends! The ones who said that are not! Not everyone who are guests tonight are our friends. Some of them are Mr. Avery's coworkers and their kids and the kids of people they are friends with. It almost makes it worse because you made an ass out of yourself in front of people who don't know you and won't know how you really are!"_

_She was practically panting now and Teddy said, "You done?"_

_She crossed her arms and stiffened before saying, "Yes."_

_He sighed and said, "I'm sorry. I'm stressed with work and I need to work on not getting so mad when people talk about my parents or you."_

_She nodded, softening a little bit, and said, "That's right, you should."_

"_I shouldn't have punched him, even if it actually felt really good," he said and for a second there he thought she smirked. "Look, I didn't plan on it. Fighting at a party full of strangers isn't what I wanted. Not exactly the impression I wanted to make."_

"_Well, then you shouldn't have made an arse out of yourself," she said, crooking an eyebrow but looking less angry._

_He hesitantly stepped toward her and said, "Just can't help it when someone talks bad about my girl…"_

_She smirked at him, arms still crossed, and said, "Is that so?"_

_He nodded, taking a few more steps, and said, "It is."_

_Her arms uncrossed and she said in a joking manner, "I suppose it was a little hott watching you punch some guy to protect my honor."_

_He smiled as they could heard yelling from downstairs. Victoire looked over at Ashleigh's clock and said, "Six…"_

"_Will you-"_

"_Five…."_

"_still kiss-"_

"_Four…"_

"_me at-"_

"_Three…"_

"_midnight?"_

"_Two…" she said as she leaned into him and then said, "Of course."_

Chris rubbed between his eyes and said, "Ok, we got it. You still snogged at midnight."

Sam shook his head and said, "Lame. That story's not good enough to embarrass you about."

Teddy smirked and said, "I never said it didn't _end_ well. But I screwed it up pretty bad. We left right after to go to Shell Cottage because of the 'scene I made.' Now if I see any of those people again I'm the crazy half-werewolf half-metamorphagus guy who is a short fuse and might attack."

Chris smirked and drank from his glass. "Well, good going with that one."

Teddy just groaned.


	17. A Long Distance Romance

"You are really going to have to get a hold on that," Ashleigh said as she took a bite of the treacle tart she and Natalie were sharing on the train back to Hogwarts. "He can't just hit any guy who pisses him off. Gibbons is an annoying pig but he wasn't even talking to Teddy."

Emma smiled and said, "I think it was kind of sweet. He was defending your honor!"

Natalie rolled her eyes and said, "Of course you would think it was sweet and romantic and not immature and brutish. All he did was prove their point by tryingf to fight them like a muggle."

Charlotte raised an eyebrow, being muggleborn, and Natalie added, "Oh, you know I don't mean it like that. But not even dueling, just punching someone, does look brutish!"

Victoire had been chewing on a sugar quill as the girls gave their two knuts. She finally rubbed between her eyes and said, "Can we just move on from this?

"No, poppet, we really can't. He can't keep making a spectacle and embarrassing you in front of our friends and parents and… Tor, there were some important Ministry people there. It looks bad for both of you," Ashleigh said, looking a little concerned. After Victoire's death glare Ashleigh shrugged and said, "Fine. On a lighter note… Brandon told me he loved me at New Year's."

Victoire practically jumped from her seat. "You rambled on about Teddy and I and didn't mention this minor detail?!"

Ashleigh smiled and said, "Oh, please. It's not that big of a deal."

The four other girls gave her a look that said "we don't buy it" before Ashleigh squeeled and said, "Ok fine, it's kind of a big deal! You know I've never liked that mushy stuff but oh, it was perfect. It was just after New Year's when all the confetti was falling down and we were still swaying to the music…"

Victoire smiled at how, for the first time, all of her friends' romantic lives were going pretty well. It was a welcome relief as the second term of their 6th year brought even more homework, if possible. She took refuge in the meals with her best girlfriends and her letters from Teddy.

_Dear Teddy,_

_I don't know how you had anytime to hang out with your friends, your girlfriend, and myself your 6th year. I feel completely swamped. My dormmate Sarah is doing all of this plus Quidditch! And now I remember you were doing that and a prefect like me. Ok, spill it, Lupin. You had a timeturner, didn't you? I expect you to let me borrow it._

_I can't wait until the first Hogsmeade weekend of the semester. I need the break. And of course it is near Valentine's Day and I will get to see you... By the way, we made amortentia yesterday. Mine smelt like the bluebells at Shell Cottage as well as chocolate and this smell that I can only describe as… soapy. If you haven't guessed it, I'm figuring the last two bits are you. Chocolate's always reminded me of you and you do have a very good clean boy smell. Out of curiosity… what did you get your 6th year? Oh and while I'm on the subject of love, Ash and her boyfriend are using the L word now. All we need is Nat to finally say what she really feels and the whole lot will be set. And you said Ash was a fire-breathing snake of a Slytherin with no heart._

_And how is Auror training? I hope Colin isn't annoying you even more than usual. I also hope Chris has bucked up since the break up. He wasn't his normal funny self. Give him and Sam my love._

_Love, _

_Victoire_

Teddy came into Chris's and his flat, still bruised and scratched up from a practice duel earlier this morning.

"Wouldn't let the healer see you?" Chris asked as he came into the living room, firewhiskey in hand.

"And miss out on the fun in healing myself?" Teddy asked in a slightly joking tone as he went straight to the cabinet full of healing potions. "There's not always time for a Healer on the field."

Chris looked at him and said, "Well, they're not all gonna be The Final Battle, either." He gave Teddy a pat on the shoulder and an apologetic smile as Teddy grimaced. "By the way," Chris said as he walked down the hallway to his room, "I think you got an owl from Victoire."

It was the pick-me-up he needed. After applying healing potion on to some of the bigger cuts and trying to charm away his bruises, Teddy tried to relax, read her letter, and write one in reply.

_Tor,_

_No time turner. I'm just perfect._

_You gotta admit that when I said that about Ashleigh, she was a fire-breathing snake of a Slytherin and you hated her then. So maybe I was wrong on her actually having a heart._

_And, well, I think it was the amortentia that confirmed I fancied you. I smelled chocolate, parchment, and this flowery smell mixed with the ocean. Maybe it was the bluebells? I just know it smelled like you. I miss you._

_Auror training's going well, I guess. Matthews will always be a pain in my arse but I'm used to it. Chris was being a mother hen about me going to healers after duels but I've got to learn to patch myself back up, you know? He's getting to be more himself. I think the training is distracting him._

_Your cousin Albus is counting down the days to his eleventh birthday and to when he thinks he should get a letter from Hogwarts. Harry and Ginny are trying to tell him that it doesn't exactly work that way and they managed to calm him down ... until the kids found Harry's and Ginny's old trunks in the attic and began running around in Gryffindor clothes. I hope the letter lives up to the hype. _

_That shows you that, once again, Gryffindor is the best house. We've got Potter and the older Weasleys and from what I hear… we're going to have this year's Quidditch Cup and probably the House Cup, too._

_Love you,_

_Teddy_

A few days later, Victoire had an unamused look on her face as she read that last part. She pulled out some parchment to write on and began scribbling away.

_Dearest Theodore,_

_I love a man with modesty. Too bad you don't seem to have it. Maybe I should rethink all of this…kidding, of course.  
_

_And then Ashleigh turned out to be my (second) dearest friend. Be nice._

_I like the sound of your amortina. Seems a little like fate. Oh, and I miss you, too. The eleventh won't get here fast enough._

_You better not be letting yourself not heal properly because you're going to be your own pigmy puff. I can't believe Chris is the one with more sense. You can try to heal yourself at first, but then go to the healer after that! They only teach slightly more advanced healing spells than what we learn at Hogwarts, right? How are you supposed to be able to fight if some wounds never healed properly? And yes, I do realize I'm being the mother hen now. I'm guessing you are either really good at healing or you haven't visited your grandmum because she would have a hypogriff if she knew you were just healing yourself. I'm betting on the latter._

_My cousin? More like your godbrother. He's more like you if he goes mental over red and yellow instead of lovely shades of blue. Yes, I SAID IT. Oh, and Ravenclaw has me so… we win. I have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to the cups. There is no lock at who will win at all. I can say we will probably win the House Cup since we excel in class and don't lose all the points we make unlike my wonderful cousins in Gryffindor who lose any points they might earn through Quidditch. Also, if you ever want to get any ever again, you better watch what you say about the houses._

_Most Sincerely,_

_Victoire_

The letters continued with Teddy's "Eleventh? Hm, I really hope I'm not on a training mission that weekend. Before you hex your books out the window, I'm kidding," "I thought you were talking about modesty. I love you, Victoire, but Gryffindor still wins. Want to make a wager on who will win the cups this year?" and "If I want to get any? Really, Tor, I think your mum would not approve of her little cheri talking like that…" and Victoire's "If I have to listen to one more Binn lecture I might crack. Why did THAT class have to be important for International Cooperation? You're lucky you got out of it" and "All right, five galleons on Slytherin winning the Quidditch cup and two galleons on Ravenclaw winning House cup. Remember, I still go to school here. You better hope you have reliable sources."

The day before the February Hogsmeade trip was torture to Victoire. All of the couples seemed to be discussing the next day's outing while remaining sickenly cute while doing so. The wait was worth it as again she ran and jumped into his arms as soon as she saw him waiting by Honeyduke's and again they picked up where they had left off, as if they hadn't spent a month and a half apart, and again they worked together splendidly. When it came time to leave, Victoire tried to give her biggest doe eyes and pout Of course, there was no reason to give them to Teddy. He wasn't the one forcing her to go back to homework, drama, prefect duties, and everything else that went along with school.

Teddy could tell Professor Longbottom was trying not to get annoyed at Victoire being one of the last to go back to the gate, and Teddy decided not to try Longbottom's patience. He gave her a kiss on the nose and said, "I'll see you at Easter holidays, okay? It won't be that bad and you can focus on school."

Victoire raised her eyebrow and said, "Mmm, Ted, stop while you're ahead. You sound like my father." She then sighed, wrapped her arms around him, and rested her head against his chest. "I guess you're right, though," she said before standing on her tip-toes and giving him a kiss. "Easter it is."

Teddy gave her a smile and said, "Love you."

She stood on her toes again to give him a final kiss and said "love you, too" before hurrying back to the last group leaving.

Teddy watched as she tried to catch up with rest of the group. She looked like a blur of silver as she hurried. He kicked a rock by his foot and turned back with a groan. It was definitely difficult dating someone still in school.

And so the letters continued.

_Author's Note: Sorry this took forever. I have more specific events that are more laid out in the future. I just have to get there first I suppose. Oh, and I checked and Hogwarts does have to semesters (according to lexicon) I just accidently wrote semester instead of term! Oops! All right, the next scenes in Constant and Aftermath are already pretty much worked out in my head, so hopefully it will take no time for me to write them. Thanks wlrjb for noticing the slip about James and Albus!_


End file.
